r 


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MMM  f\  c^n^<fi^^ 


BERKELEY 

LIBRARY 

UMfVERSlTY  OF 
CALIFORNIA 


V. 


A  Tenderfoot 
in  the  Tropics 


By 
MACK  P.  CRETCHER 


ILLUSTRATED 


FIRST  EDITION 


MONOTYPED  AND  PRINTED  BY 

CRANK  &  COMPANY 

TOPEKA 

1918 


FOREWORD 


This  unpretentious  little  volume  is  presented  to  the  public 
with  few  excuses.  No  claims  of  particular  hterary  effort  are 
made  for  it.  It  contains  mostly  letters  that  were  written  to 
home  papers,  the  Newton  Kansan  and  the  Sedgwick  Panta- 
graph,  and  published  from  time  to  time  during  a  period  of 
more  than  three  years  which  the  writer  spent  in  the  Orient. 
An  attempt  has  been  made  to  arrange  these  letters  in  some 
measure  of  logical  sequence.  Otherwise  they  stand  about 
as  written  while  the  author  was  gaining  his  limited  experience 
in  the  Tropics. 

There  must  be  something  subtle  about  life  in  the  Tropics 
that  inspires  one  to  write.  Nearly  every  foreign  resident 
there  has  at  times  felt  the  desire  to  write  a  book  about  the 
PhiHppines.  Often,  possibly  too  often,  the  ambition  has 
been  reaHzed.  As  a  result,  a  great  deal  of  historical,  sta- 
tistical and  political  information  has  been  published  about 
the  Philippines.  It  is  available  for  all  who  care  to  read  it. 
This  Uttle  volume  has  no  particular  bearing  on  any  of  these 
topics.  It  is  largely  the  first-hand  impressions  of  a  tender- 
foot from  the  great  plains  of  Kansas,  who  tarried  for  a  time 
in  a  new  and  exceedingly  strange  environment. 

It  is  mostly  a  tale  of  personal  experiences  in  the  Philip- 
pine Islands,  including  also  some  fleeting  gUmpses  obtained 
of  China  and  Japan.  The  writer  has  attempted  to  tell  his 
little  story  truthfully  and  as  things  appeared  to  him.  There 
are  "many  men  of  many  minds"  among  the  American  con- 
tingent in  the  Philippines.  Especially  is  this  true  concern- 
ing political  and  social  affairs.  Of  these  topics  many  have 
had  their  say  in  books  and  writings  seemingly  without  end. 

(3) 

814 


A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 


If  you  are  looking  for  that  sort  of  material  here  you  will 
surely  be  disappointed.  This  book  is  no  defense  of  either 
the  ^'New  Era"  or  the  mooted  ''Days  of  the  Empire."  As 
before  stated,  it  is  merely  a  disjointed  story  of  personal  ex- 
periences and  observations  jotted  down  and  sent  home  for 
pubhcation  in  local  newspapers  from  time  to  time,  and  now 
compiled  and  offered  the  public  in  book  form. 

To  those  who  have  traveled  the  same  road,  the  stories  may 
recall  similar  experiences.  To  others  who  may  not  have 
traveled  so  far,  these  experiences  may  at  least  give  some  idea 
of  how  it  feels  to  be  a  tenderfoot  in  tropic  lands.  If  the 
book  interests  you,  we  shall  both  be  pleased.  If  it  does  not — 
well,  it  wouldn't  be  the  first  experience  of  that  kind  which 
you  have  had  with  books,  now  would  it? 

Truly, 

THE  AUTHOR. 

Sedgwick,  Kansas,  December  1,  1918. 


CONTENTS. 

Chapter  Page 

Foreword 3 

I.  The  Start 7 

II.  The  Journey 9 

III.  Honolulu 13 

IV.  Japan 17 

V.  In  a  Typhoon 25 

VI.  The  Arrival 30 

VII.  First  Impressions 35 

VIII.  In  the  Provinces 40 

IX.  Pagsanjan  Gorge 52 

X.  Christmas  Week 57 

XI.  The  Slogan  Contest 64 

XII.  An  Earthquake 70 

XIII.  A  Year  of  Agricultural  Organization 75 

XIV.  Typhoons,  Volcanoes,  Etc 84 

XV.  Filipinos 90 

XVI.  Beautiful  Baguio 99 

XVII.  Journalism  in  the  Orient 105 

XVIII.  Miscellaneous  Impressions 110 

XIX.  On  Board  a  Battleship 117 

XX.  A  Commencement  Address 123 

XXI.  An  Appreciation  of  Vice-Go vernor  Maktin 129 

XXII.  Inter-Island  Travel 140 

(5) 


0  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

Chapter  Page 

XXIII.  Agriculture  and  Education 146 

XXIV.  Luzon 156 

XXV.     The  Visatas 163 

XXVI.    Mindanao  and  Sulu 170 

XXVII.    A  Public  Welfare  Address 176 

XXVIII.    Log  op  the  S.  S.  ''Warren" 181 

XXIX.    A  Glimpse  op  China 186 

XXX.    A  Peek  at  Pekin 194 

XXXI.    A  Cruise  op  the  Southern  Islands 203 

XXXII.    General  Observations 222 

XXXIII.    Home  Again 228 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  START. 
[Newton  Evening  Kansan,  May  9,  1914.] 

Mack  P.  Cretcher,  of  this  city,  has  received  an  appoint- 
ment to  the  United  States  Insular  Service  in  the  PhiHppines,^ 
and  he  and  Mrs.  Cretcher  will  leave  tomorrow,  May  10,  on 
the  California  Limited  for  San  Francisco,  with  the  intention; 
of  saihng  May  14  at  noon  on  the  steamship  Mongolia  for 
Manila. 

This  announcement  will  come  with  but  little  more  sur- 
prise to  their  friends  than  it  came  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cretcher 
themselves.  A  message  was  received  yesterday  at  noon  by 
Mr.  Cretcher  from  the  Bureau  of  Insular  Affairs  at  Washing- 
ton, stating  that  if  acceptable  the  appointment  would  be 
made  and  that  it  would  come  about  through  the  recommenda- 
tion of  Henderson  Martin.  Accustomed  to  acting  with 
promptness  and  decision,  Mr.  Cretcher  wired  Washington 
immediately  to  send  on  the  transportation  with  further  in- 
structions. The  arrangements  above  outlined  are  the 
''further  instructions,"  and  the  transportation  is  to  be  wired 
today. 

The  message  stated  that  the  work  is  to  be  the  investiga- 
tion and  promotion  of  industries  in  the  Philippine  Islands, 
and  in  that  capacity  the  administration  would  have  trouble 
in  finding  a  better  man  than  Cretcher.  In  fact,  he  is  most 
admirably  equipped  in  experience,  age,  and  mature  judg- 
ment, to  make  valuable  recommendations  to  his  department 
in  the  work  assigned  to  him.  His  numerous  friends  here 
and  all  over  the  state  will  congratulate  Mack  upon  his  ap- 


A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS, 


pointment,  which  came  unsolicited,  and  carries  a  comfortable 
salary. 

As  stated,  the  appointment  came  through  Hon.  Henderson 
Martin,  of  Marion,  Vice-Go vernor  of  the  Islands.  Several 
months  ago  when  writing  to  Mr.  Martin,  Mack  rather  jok- 
ingly stated  that  if  there  were  any  convenient  jobs  lying 
around  in  the  Islands,  that  he  wouldn't  mind  making  the 
trip  over.  That  was  all  the  mention  ever  given  the  matter, 
and  the  message  from  Washington  yesterday  was  the  first 
intimation  Mack  has  had  that  his  statement  had  been  re- 
membered. 

Forty-eight  hours  is  rather  a  short  time  to  accept  a  job, 
clean  up  a  considerable  amount  of  personal  affairs,  and  get 
ready  to  make  a  journey  half  way  round  the  earth;  but 
that  is  the  order,  and  the  Cretchers  will  be  ready  to  start 
on  the  long  journey  tomorrow  at  2 :  55.  The  ocean  trip  wiU 
require  about  four  weeks,  and  the  boat  will  touch  Honolulu 
and  several  ports  in  Japan. 

[  Newton  Evening  Kansan,  May  11,  1914.) 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mack  P.  Cretcher  left  yesterday  afternoon 
on  No.  3,  the  California  Limited,  for  San  Francisco,  from 
which  port  they  will  sail  for  Manila,  Thursday  at  noon  on 
the  Pacific  mail  ship  Mongolia.  A  large  crowd  of  friends 
gathered  at  the  station  to  bid  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Cretcher  good 
bye  and  *'bon  voyage."  We  are  sorry  to  have  them  go,  but 
rather  rejoice  in  the  opportunity  they  have  been  given  of 
broadening  their  knowledge  of  the  world  by  first-hand  ex- 
perience. They  have  promised  to  write  the  Kansan  fre- 
quently, and  their  greetings  will  be  passed  on  to  Newton 
and  Harvey  County  friends. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  JOURNEY. 

Honolulu,  May  20,  1914. 

As  per  my  promise  on  leaving  Newton,  herewith  a  few 
rambling  notes  of  impressions  obtained  while  traveling 
steadily  westward  for  more  than  a  week. 

We  had  a  most  delightful  ride  out  to  San  Francisco,  leav- 
ing Newton  May  10  and  arriving  at  San  Francisco  the  even- 
ing of  May  12.  The  California  Limited  is  a  fine  train  and 
makes  good  time.  Serves  meals  on  board,  carries  an  ob- 
servation car,  library,  writing  room,  and  all  modern  conven- 
iences. The  first  night  out,  I  was  in  the  observation  car 
rather  late,  writing,  when  my  attention  was  attracted  to  a 
rather  nervous  man.  Every  once  in  a  while  he  would  look 
at  his  watch,  call  the  porter  and  talk  to  him  earnestly.  I 
wondered  why  the  porter  didn't  put  the  fellow  to  bed,  as  I 
judged  that  was  what  was  troubling  him.  But  that  wasn't 
it,  as  I  found  out  later,  when  the  porter  came  in  with  a  grin 
and  a  bottle  of  beer,  and  said :  ''We  are  in  Colorado  now, 
sah,  so  it's  all  right."  The  man  had  been  sitting  up  waiting 
until  we  had  crossed  the  Kansas  line  into  Colorado  so  he 
could  get  a  bottle  of  beer. 

Within  twenty-four  hours  from  date  of  our  departure  we 
were  at  Albuquerque,  New  Mexico,  which  shows  that  we 
were  speeding  quite  lively.  This  is  a  queer  old  Spanish- 
Mexican  town.  The  Curio  Store  there  is  well  worthy  a 
visit,  and  as  our  train  stopped  there  for  an  hour  we  had  a 
good  chance  to  look  over  this  place.  One  interesting  sight 
was  to  watch  the  Indians  making  the  famous  Navajo  rugs 

(9) 


10  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

and  blankets.  There  were  many  Navajo  Indians  around  the 
station,  peddling  Indian  curios.  The  squaws  all  had  their 
legs  wrapped  from  knee  down  to  ankle  with  some  sort  of  a 
legging  that  looked  quite  odd  and  uncomfortable.  I  don't 
know  why  they  wear  such  a  mess  of  wadding.  It  certainly 
wasn't  because  of  the  cold  the  day  we  were  there. 

We  left  Albuquerque  shortly  after  noon,  and  traveled  all 
the  rest  of  the  day  over  a  rather  uninteresting  desert  country. 
By  the  next  morning  we  were  at  Barstow,  where  the  western 
train  divides,  one  train  going  down  to  Los  Angeles  and  our 
train  going  northwest  to  San  Francisco.  We  were  climbing 
into  the  mountains,  and  I  watched  the  Los  Angeles  train 
winding  its  way  off  down  through  hills  and  valleys  for  quite 
a  while.  The  mountains  of  California  were  lovely,  quite 
rugged  and  picturesque,  especially  as  we  began  to  wend  our 
way  down  the  western  slope.  It  was  June,  and  many  of  the 
mountain  sides  in  the  distance  were  fairly  ablaze  with  great 
fields  of  poppy  blossoms.  From  Bakersfield  up  to  Frisco 
the  country  is  a  land  of  fruits,  flowers,  and  prolific  agricul- 
ture, but  hot.  We  fairly  sizzled,  and  I  wondered  if  the  Phil- 
ippines would  be  proportionally  hotter.  Got  to  the  bay 
about  9  o'clock  that  night,  and  nearly  froze  as  we  were  fer- 
ried across  to  San  Francisco. 

We  spent  the  next  day  getting  ready  for  the  long  journey 
and  seeing  the  sights.  I  had  been  in  San  Francisco  before 
the  big  quake  and  fire,  and  looked  at  the  magic  new  city 
that  had  sprung  from  the  ruins  with  much  wonder  and  ad- 
miration. San  Francisco  was  all  new,  clean,  beautiful,  show- 
ing hardly  a  trace  of  the  great  disaster  which  would  have 
utterly  obliterated  a  less  enterprising  place.  Went  out  to 
the  Fair  Grounds  and  saw  several  of  the  new  buildings  being 
erected  for  the  Panama-Pacific  Exposition.  I  rather  antici- 
pate that  this  will  be  one  Fair  that  we  will  miss.     The 


THE  JOURNEY.  11 


grounds  are  being  rapidly  prepared  for  the  big  show,  and 
are  lovely  already.  But  fine  as  San  Francisco  is,  I  don't 
like  the  weather  there.  Every  time  I  have  been  there,  it 
has  been  fog,  chill,  then  hot,  then  more  fog  and  chill,  and 
the  wind  howls  a  regular  gale.  I  suppose  one  could  get 
used  to  it,  but  the  cUmate  there  has  never  had  a  very  pleasant 
appeal  to  me. 

Thursday  noon.  May  14,  we  went  down  to  the  dock  and 
boarded  the  steamer  Mongolia  for  the  long  journey.  She 
looked  like  a  veritable  monster  to  me,  compared  with  the 
United  Fruit  Company  boat  on  which  we  had  made  our 
previous  and  only  sea  trip,  from  New  Orleans  to  Panama. 
The  Mongolia  is  one  of  the  largest  boats  on  the  Pacific, 
27,000  tons,  625  feet  long,  carries  a  Filipino  band,  has  bar- 
ber shop,  laundry,  swimming  tank,  electric  fans  in  every 
stateroom,  and  electric  reading  light  in  each  berth.  We  had 
a  big  crowd  on  board,  bound  for  Honolulu,  Yokohama,  Ma- 
nila, and  Hongkong.  About  forty  of  the  passengers  were 
young  men  going  to  Manila  to  teach  school  in  the  Philippines. 
It  doesn't  take  a  crowd  of  steamer  passengers  long  to  get 
acquainted,  and  we  were  all  soon  on  the  most  friendly  terms. 
The  Golden  Gate  wasn't  very  golden  the  day  we  sailed  out 
to  sea.  Too  many  clouds  and  too  much  Frisco  fog.  Within 
two  hours  from  the  time  we  sailed,  the  good  old  U.  S.  A. 
faded  out  of  sight  entirely  and  we  were  bobbing  up  and  down 
on  the  six  days'  run  to  Honolulu.  They  say  the  sea  is  always 
heavy  just  outside  the  Gate,  and  it  lived  up  to  its  reputation 
the  day  we  left.  Mrs.  Cretcher  gave  up  the  fight  and  sev- 
eral other  things  before  dark  that  night,  but  although  not 
much  of  a  sailor,  I  managed  to  hold  out  faithful,  although 
rather  uncomfortable  and  doubtful  of  myself  at  times. 

There  is  not  much  change  of  scenery  in  ocean  travel,  so 
aside  from  gossip  about  ''who's  who"  on  board,  the  playing 


12  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

of  games,  reading,  writing,  and  taking  life  as  easy  as  the 
restless  waves  will  permit,  there  was  not  much  going  on. 
Our  ship  rode  steadily  most  of  the  way,  and  the  journey  to 
Honolulu  was  pleasant,  even  if  uneventful.  After  six  days 
of  ocean  travel,  this  harbor  of  Honolulu  looks  like  a  picture 
of  Paradise.  Anxious  to  get  this  letter  off  now.  Possibly 
more  about  Honolulu  later. 


CHAPTER  III. 

HONOLULU. 

On  Board,  May  22,  1914. 

We  thoroughly  enjoyed  our  stop  of  one  day  at  Honolulu. 
Everybody  says  Honolulu  is  beautiful.  In  this  I  heartily 
concur.  Still  I  have  the  suspicion  that  one  thing  that  en- 
hances its  beauty  is  the  days  and  days  of  sea  voyage  neces- 
sary to  reach  the  place.  After  a  week  or  two  of  endless 
waste  of  water,  any  sort  of  land,  even  a  rugged  rock,  would 
look  pretty  good.  But  Honolulu's  delightful  tropical  cli- 
mate, the  blue  sea,  the  green  mountains,  the  profusion  of 
flowers,  the  glistening  coral  beaches  with  the  pounding  surf 
and  the  white  breakers  rolling  in,  makes  a  pleasant  picture 
that  is  sure  to  live  long  in  the  memory  of  every  traveler 
who  has  visited  Honolulu. 

Here  is  a  little  story  that  shows  how  little  some  of  our 
home  people  know  about  the  rest  of  the  world.  It  was  told 
me  by  a  gentleman  on  our  boat,  whose  home  is  in  Honolulu. 
He  said  that  he  was  in  New  York  recently  and  was  intro- 
duced to  a  man  as  Mr.  Jones  from  Honolulu.  The  party 
said  :  *'0h,  you  live  in  Honolulu,  do  you?  I  have  a  friend 
over  there,  a  Mr.  Jackson,  who  lives  in  Manila.  I  wonder 
if  you  ever  met  him?"  The  Honolulu  man  smiled,  and  told 
him  that  he  hadn't  met  his  friend  yet,  but  might  do  so  any 
time,  as  he  usually  made  the  practice  of  going  over  from 
Honolulu  to  Manila  every  Saturday  night.  And  the  New 
Yorker  didn't  realize  that  he  was  being  joshed.  It  takes 
about  ten  days  steady  sailing  from  Honolulu  in  order  to 
reach  Japan,  and  it's  about  six  days  more  of  steady  sailing 

(13) 


14  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

from  Japan  on  down  to  Manila.  It  would  be  about  like 
some  one  over  here  asking  a  New  Yorker  if  he  had  ever  met 
his  friend  down  at  Rio  de  Janeiro. 

We  were  glad  to  get  our  feet  on  solid  ground  at  Honolulu. 
You  can't  reaUze  what  a  pleasant  sensation  it  is  until  you 
have  tried  it.  We  went  at  once  to  the  splendid  Alexander 
Young  Hotel,  where  mail  awaited  me  from  Vice-Governor 
Martin,  the  first  definite  information  I  had  concerning  my 
future  duties  in  the  Philippines.  In  company  with  Dr. 
Waters,  of  the  Kansas  Agricultural  College,  and  family,  we 
made  an  automobile  trip  of  over  fifty  miles  out  over  the 
island,  which  gave  us  an  exceptional  chance  for  observation 
during  our  limited  visit.  Mr.  Thomas,  one  of  the  big  pine- 
apple planters  of  the  island,  came  over  on  the  same  boat  with 
us  and  kindly  favored  us  with  the  auto  ride.  I  saw  his  car 
hoisted  on  board  at  San  Francisco,  and  little  thought  at 
the  time  that  I  would  be  spinning  over  Honolulu's  smooth 
roads  in  that  same  car.  But  before  noon  the  car  was  un- 
loaded and  up  to  the  hotel  and  we  were  all  aboard.  The 
ride  out  through  the  city  with  its  beautiful  residences,  parks 
and  fairyland  of  flowers,  was  dehghtful  indeed.  We  were 
soon  out  among  the  famous  sugar  plantations.  The  cane  is 
grown  under  a  splendid  system  of  irrigation.  On  this  trip 
as  we  cUmbed  to  higher  ground  we  had  a  fine  view  of  Pearl 
Harbor,  the  United  States  naval  station  in  these  islands. 
Several  miles  out  of  Honolulu  I  was  surprised  to  see  a  big 
permanent  encampment  of  soldiers.  I  was  told  that  our 
government  had  over  8,000  soldiers  there  at  that  time.  I 
didn't  know  that  we  had  any  soldiers  there  at  all.  But  I  am 
beginning  to  realize  that  what  I  don't  know  would  make  a 
pretty  good  sized  book,  any  way,  so  why  worry? 

Our  visit  to  the  big  pineapple  plantation  of  Mr.  Thomas 
was  quite  interesting.     He  not  only  is  a  big  planter,  but  op- 


HONOLULU.  15 


erates  two  canning  factories  in  Honolulu.  We  went  out  into 
the  fields,  gathered  the  ripe,  yellow  fruit,  and  had  it  served 
to  us  after  we  got  back  to  his  home.  The  peeHng  was  re- 
moved and  the  fruit  was  then  served  in  long  slices  Hke  water- 
melon, the  sweet,  yellow  slices  fairly  swimming  in  rich  juice 
in  the  big  platter.  Good?  It  couldn't  well  be  finer.  It  was 
tender,  sweet  without  the  adding  of  sugar,  and  of  a  delicious 
flavor.  The  sour,  woody  pineapples  occasionally  found  in 
the  markets  at  home  have  no  resemblance  to  these  big 
golden  pineapples  of  Hawaii. 

While  washing  my  hands  at  the  ranch  house,  a  centipede 
came  crawling  out  of  the  drain  into  the  basin,  and  I  watched 
his  wigghng  legs  and  wondered  if  those  things  were  common 
to  the  Tropics.  If  so,  I  am  in  for  an  interesting  time,  for 
that  wiggler  didn't  look  good  to  me. 

We  came  back  to  town  past  an  extinct  volcano,  stopped 
at  the  famous  Waikiki  Beach  where  the  surf-riders  have  so 
much  fun,  visited  the  U.  S.  Agricultural  Experiment  Station, 
and  also  spent  a  delightful  hour  at  the  Aquarium  looking  at 
the  wonderful  collection  of  fish.  And  they  are  indeed  won- 
derful. Not  only  in  numbers  and  varieties,  but  also  in  color- 
ing. Bright  blue  fish,  red  fish,  green  fish,  speckled,  spotted, 
ringed,  and  striped  fish,  that  resembled  fancy  patterns  of  silk 
or  calico.  An  artist  would  have  a  task  trying  to  show  the 
colors  and  blends  of  colors  those  fish  sported.  There  were 
freak  fish,  big  and  little  fish,  fish  with  horns  and  swords ;  in 
fact  the  aquarium!.at  Honolulu  is  one  of  the  world's  show 
places  in  the  fish  line,  and  well  worthy  a  visit.  Our  only  re- 
gret was  that  we  had  so  little  time  there. 

But  the  boat  was  to  leave  that  evening,  and  we  had  to 
hurry  to  the  dock.  But  the  flower  girls  were  in  wait  for  us, 
and  you  can't  escape  the  purchase  of  some  of  their  flowers, 
which  are  worn  as  a  wreath  around  the  neck  as  a  sign  of 


16  •    A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

good  luck.  Everybody  invested.  Some  of  the  most  staid 
and  dignified  passengers  were  walking  around  on  deck  when 
we  went  aboard,  decorated  with  two  or  three  wreaths  of 
flowers  around  the  neck.  We  were  soon  away  from  the  dock 
and  gUding  out  across  the  bay.  A  bunch  of  naked  Hawaiian 
boys  followed  swimming  alongside  the  big  steamer,  begging 
passengers  to  throw  coins  overboard,  for  which  they  dived. 
They  followed  us  out  for  over  half  a  mile  before  the  last  one 
turned  and  headed  back  for  the  shore.  Our  final  view  of 
Honolulu  harbor  as  dusk  settled  down  over  the  dark  moun- 
tains, the  beautiful  shore  with  its  feathery  palms  and  white 
breakers  rolling  in,  the  white  houses,  the  lights  beginning  to 
twinkle  here  and  there,  made  a  very  pretty  picture  indeed. 
Beautiful  Honolulu,  our  only  regret  was  that  our  visit  was  so 
short. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

JAPAN. 

Kyoto,  Japan,  June  2,  1914. 

We  are  now  in  Kyoto,  the  heart  of  old  Japan,  and  the  seat 
of  government  for  centuries  until  the  capital  was  moved  to 
Tokyo  in  1860.  I  am  sitting  tonight  in  a  handsome  hotel 
of  150  rooms,  situated  on  a  high  bluff  overlooking  the  quaint 
old  city  of  Kyoto.  It  is  called  the  Miyako  Hotel,  and  is 
about  two  miles  from  the  railway  station.  We  arrived  here 
yesterday  evening  after  an  interesting  journey  by  rail  from 
Tokyo.  No  words  can  describe  how  odd  were  the  scenes 
through  which  we  have  passed  in  the  last  few  days. 

After  leaving  Honolulu  we  had  pleasant  weather  for  two 
days.  Then  we  encountered  a  rough  sea.  Mrs.  Cretcher  had 
been  seasick  several  times,  but  after  eight  days  on  the  ocean 
with  no  sign  of  sickness  myself,  I  had  begun  to  think  that 
I  was  a  pretty  good  sailor.  This  idea  changed  after  we  en- 
countered the  rough  sea.  I  lost  my  reputation  as  a  sailor, 
and  that  wasn't  half  of  what  I  lost  at  that  time  either.  Of 
course  I  attributed  my  indisposition  to  the  fact  that  I  had 
eaten  too  heartily  of  the  Hawaiian  pineapples  and  powdered 
sugar  that  were  served  at  nearly  every  meal  since  leaving 
Honolulu,  but  I  guess  the  fact  of  the  matter  was  that  I  was 
plainly  seasick  for  the  first  time  in  my  life.  I  was  sick  all 
right.  Seasickness  is  a  joke  only  when  you  are  not  seasick. 
I  found  that  out  to  my  entire  satisfaction. 

As  we  neared  the  coast  of  Japan  we  encountered  the  phos- 
phorescent glow  on  the  waves,  which  was  a  wonderful  sight. 
I  had  read  of  the  "sea  of  fire,"  but  had  no  idea  it  was  so 

(17) 


18  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

beautiful.  The  glow  of  the  waves  isn't  red.  It  is  a  beauti- 
ful radiant  purple  and  blue,  and  as  the  ship  plows  through 
the  waves  there  is  a  glow  from  their  crests  that  lights  up 
the  ship  of  a  night  with  a  wonderful,  unreal,  wavering,  beauti- 
ful light  that  is  impossible  to  describe.  The  darker  the 
night  the  more  beautiful  the  effect.  Ask  some  one  who 
knows,  to  tell  you  what  causes  it.  I  was  told  that  millions 
of  minute  insects  that  are  capable  of  producing  Hght  after 
the  manner  of  the  firefly  or  the  glowworm,  are  the  cause  of 
this  glow  on  the  water. 

We  were  in  the  great  Japan  current  on  Decoration  Day, 
and  nearing  the  coast.  May  31  we  sighted  the  headlands  of 
Japan,  and  by  noon  were  on  land  at  Yokohama.  We  spent 
the  afternoon  sight-seeing  there,  and  left  on  the  evening 
train  for  Tokyo,  the  capital  city,  where  we  spent  the  night. 
Yokohama  is  the  seaport  of  Tokyo.  It  has  a  population  of 
over  400,000.  Tokyo  has  over  two  million  inhabitants.  We 
were  out  until  after  midnight  seeing  the  queer  scenes  in 
Tokyo,  including  a  glimpse  of  the  '' Yoshiwara,"  which  needs 
no  description.  If  you  have  ever  been  there  you  know  all 
about  it,  and  if  you  haven't  I  presume  you  are  just  as  well 
off. 

In  Yokohama  we  had  our  first  ride  in  a  jinrikisha.  That 
is  the  full  name  of  the  little  two-wheeled  buggy  which  is 
pulled  by  a  native,  who  works  between  the  shafts  like  a 
horse.  This  name  is  usually  shortened  to  'rickisha,  and  the 
average  tourist  pronounces  it  ''rickshaw."  It's  the  easiest 
and  cheapest  means  of  transportation,  and  nearly  everybody 
travels  that  way.  You  hop  in,  sit  down,  the  Jap  gets  in 
between  the  shafts,  lifts  them  up  even  with  his  hips,  gets  a 
firm  hold  on  them  with  his  hands,  and  away  he  goes  on  a  trot. 
We  made  quite  a  display  in  most  places  we  have  been.  In 
our  immediate  party  were  Dr.  Waters,  his  wife  and  son  Jack, 


JAPAN.  19 


Mr.  Ross,  a  teacher  from  Lawrence,  Mrs.  Cretcher  and  I, 
and  a  Japanese  boy  who  had  been  a  student  at  Manhattan 
for  a  number  of  years.  He  met  Dr.  Waters  at  Yokohama, 
and  was  guide  and  interpreter  for  all  of  us  all  through  Japan, 
and  his  services  were  invaluable.  Strung  out  in  a  Hne,  our 
'rickishas  made  quite  a  procession,  and  we  were  about  as  big  a 
curiosity  to  the  Japs  as  they  were  to  us.  They  followed  us 
around  that  night  in  Tokyo,  and  whenever  we  stopped  we 
were  usually  surrounded  by  the  curious  crowds,  often  pack- 
ing the  street  solidly  for  nearly  a  whole  block.  I  had  no 
idea  there  were  so  many  Japs  in  the  world.  They  are  thick 
as  fleas. 

We  left  Tokyo  yesterday  morning,  and  all  through  the 
long  journey,  ending  here  at  nightfall,  we  were  on  a  fast  ex- 
press train,  and  still  seeing  mobs  of  Japanese  all  the  way. 
They  were  at  work  in  the  rice  fields,  wheat  fields,  tea  plan- 
tations, and  thousands  of  them  in  the  towns,  and  from 
Tokyo  to  Kyoto  it  seemed  almost  hke  one  vast  town  all  the 
journey  of  350  miles.  The  express  train  was  a  good  one, 
but  engine  and  coaches  were  built  for  Japs  and  not  for  big 
six-foot  Kansans.  I  always  bumped  my  head  when  enter- 
ing one  of  the  coaches,  as  I  could  not  think  to  ''duck."  As 
a  result  I  had  several  bumps  on  my  forehead.  The  train  had 
a  dining  car  and  all  modern  conveniences.  Meals  were  very 
good,  but  we  had  one  new  experience  with  Japanese  methods. 
On  each  table  were  big  glass  jars.  Some  of  these  jars  con- 
tained choice  fruit,  and  others  were  filled  with  frosted  cakes. 
I  am  fond  of  cake,  and  near  the  close  of  the  meal  helped  my- 
self rather  freely  to  the  cakes  in  the  jar.  Others  sampled  the 
fruit.  Naturally  we  supposed  they  were  served  with  the 
meal,  but  when  we  came  to  settle  we  discovered  that  a 
waiter  had  been  quietly  standing  behind  our  back,  noting 
just  how  many  cakes  we  had  taken  from  the  jar,  and  the 


20  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

price  for  the  cakes  and  fruit  were  in  each  instance  added  to 
the  regular  price  of  the  meal.  We  had  been  indulging  in 
extras,  and  of  course  had  to  pay  for  them.  The  Japs  no 
doubt  chuckled  to  themselves  and  called  that  good  business- 

The  scenes  from  the  car  window  that  day  will  never  be 
forgotten.  The  rice  fields  were  flooded,  and  women  were 
working  knee  deep  in  the  mud.  There  were  queer  houses, 
temples,  burying  grounds,  vehicles,  costumes — it  all  seems 
like  a  dream.  There  was  practically  no  machinery  on  the 
farms.  All  the  work  is  done  by  hand.  No  horses  or  mules 
to  speak  of.  Occasionally  we  saw  a  plow  drawn  by  a  cow- 
The  fields  are  very  small,  and  usually  were  being  worked 
with  a  queer  tool  that  looked  Hke  a  huge  hoe.  The  wheat 
and  rice  is  cut  with  a  hand  sickle  such  as  we  use  at  home  to 
trim  around  the  trees  on  the  lawn.  The  people  carry  all 
burdens  in  buckets,  suspended  one  on  each  end  of  a  bamboo 
pole  which  is  placed  on  the  shoulder.  Even  the  dirt  from 
the  big  excavations  for  railroads  and  buildings  is  carried  out 
that  way.  They  evidently  have  so  many  people  here  that 
they  must  find  something  for  them  to  do,  and  labor  is  so 
cheap  there  is  little  demand  as  yet  for  modern  machinery. 

There  is  no  counting  these  swarms  of  people.  Today  at 
the  railroad  station  the  sound  of  their  wooden  shoes,  tramp, 
tramp,  tramp,  on  the  board  floors  rattled  Uke  the  march  of 
some  vast  army  or  a  bunch  of  cattle  on  stampede.  At  every 
station  along  the  road  where  the  train  stopped  there  were 
swarms  of  people,  and  the  station  platform  was  crowded  with 
peddlers  loaded  with  fruits,  candies  and  cakes.  Each  ped- 
dler had  a  sing-song  story  of  what  he  had  to  sell,  no  doubt, 
but  it  sounded  to  me  more  like  the  wailer  had  lost  his  last 
friend  and  was  getting  some  of  the  mourning  out  of  his  sys- 
tem. 

From  a  purely  scenic  viewpoint  a  trip  by  rail  through 


JAPAN.  21 


Japan  is  wonderful.  It  is  a  combination  of  mountain  climb- 
ing, then  down  valley  and  through  tunnels,  here  a  glimpse  of 
the  sea,  cascades,  waterfalls,  flowers,  etc.  We  were  too  late 
for  ''cherry  blossom"  time,  which  comes  in  April,  but  there 
was  a  profusion  of  tree-peonies,  wistarias  and  azuleas.  We 
got  only  a  fleeting  glimpse  of  the  famous  volcano,  old  Fu- 
jiama,  from  the  train,  as  there  were  clouds  all  about  the 
summit  which  obscured  the  view.  Truly,  Japan  is  a  beauti- 
ful country. 

Kyoto,  where  we  are  tonight,  looked  beautiful  with  its 
sparkling  electric  lights  as  we  came  in  last  night.  It  looks 
equally  beautiful;  from  my  window  this  evening.  Such  a 
busy  day  as  we  have  had!  We  have  seen  wonderful  silks 
and  embroidery,  chinaware  and  satsuma,  art  vases  and 
carved  ivory,  visited  temples  and  tea  houses,  on  the  go  every 
minute.  I  have  climbed  temple  steps  until  I  don't  care  to 
ever  see  another  temple ;  and  there  are  some  great  temples 
here,  even  at  that.  There  are  Shinto  shrines,  Buddhist 
temples,  and  all  sorts  of  odd  religious  inventions  for  all  pur- 
poses, from  praising  patron  saints  to  scaring  away  devils. 
Shoes  must  be  removed  before  entering  any  temple.  They 
get  around  this  by  furnishing  a  cotton  slipper,  or  sort  of  big 
sock,  which  they  furnish  foreigners.  These  are  tied  on  over 
the  shoes,  and  then  you  can  go  in.  Some  of  these  temples 
are  very,  very  old.  In  many  places  the  heavy  board  floors 
are  worn  down  except  where  there  are  knots  in  the  boards. 
These  smooth  knots  are  harder  and  do  not  wear  away  so 
rapidly,  but  the  boards  worn  down  by  the  tramping  of  bare 
feet  give  some  idea  of  the  age  of  the  place  and  the  millions 
of  feet  that  have  trod  the  sacred  spot  in  days  long  departed. 

I  was  rather  amused  at  an  old  priest  in  one  of  the  temples. 
He  was  kneeling  down  in  front  of  one  of  the  shrines  when  we 
entered,  and  was  I  suppose  praying  most  devoutly.     At 


22  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

least  he  was  making  a  big  noise  about  something.  There  is 
a  place  near  the  shrine  where  visitors  are  supposed  to  toss  a 
few  coins  in  order  to  keep  on  the  good  side  of  the  Japanese 
deity.  So  we  tossed  in  a  few  as  our  contribution.  They 
rattled  on  the  floor  and  evidently  interfered  in  a  measure 
with  the  old  father's  devotion,  as  I  noticed  that  he  opened 
one  eye  wide  enough  to  note  how  much  money  had  been 
dumped,  but  he  kept  right  on  praying  just  the  same.  He 
undoubtedly  had  a  little  curiosity  mixed  up  with  his  religion. 
That  was  plain  to  be  seen. 

At  one  place  in  our  journey  about  town  today  I  saw  a 
potter's  wheel  in  action,  and  a  Jap  workman  turned  out 
dishes,  vases,  cups,  etc.,  from  the  clay  in  a  wonderful  manner. 
He  merely  took  a  wad  of  potter's  clay,  slammed  it  down  on 
the  wheel  which  revolved  like  a  phonograph  disc,  then 
grabbed  hold  of  the  clay  with  his  hands,  and  up  rose  the  vase, 
saucer,  plate,  or  whatever  he  decided  to  make.  He  made 
dozens  of  things  while  we  stood  there  looking  at  him,  and  I 
don't  know  yet  how  he  did  it,  but  up  they  would  come  under 
his  skillful  fingers,  be  clipped  off  and  set  aside  ready  to  be 
baked,  and  then  up  would  come  another  one.  The  Japanese 
are  skillful  workmen  and  very  artistic  people.  They  do  not 
work  in  big  factories,  but  here  and  there  in  hundreds  of  little 
shops.  There  are  so  many  pretty  things  in  these  shops  made 
by  these  cunning  workmen  that  you  can  hardly  resist  buying 
everything  in  sight  if  you  have  money  enough.  And  they 
are  experts  at  separating  the  tourist  from  his  coin.  They 
are  so  poUte  and  solicitous.  They  bow  and  scrape  and  kow- 
tow and  bow  some  more,  and  are  ready  to  "sting"  you  at  the 
first  opportunity. 

At  one  store  we  saw  some  lovely  plates.  We  asked  the 
price  and  thought  the  salesman  said  they  were  ten  "sen" 
each.    Now  a  "sen"  corresponds  to  our  cent,  and  a  word 


JAPAN.  23 


"yen/'  that  sounds  much  the  same,  is  their  word  for  dollar. 
Well,  we  went  all  through  the  lovely  store,  but  Mrs.  Cretcher 
couldn't  get  over  the  idea  of  those  lovely  china  plates  for 
ten  cents.  She  declared  they  were  the  cheapest  things  she 
ever  heard  tell  of,  and  was  determined  to  buy  one.  I  told 
her  it  would  probably  be  broken  before  we  got  to  our  destina- 
tion, but  she  insisted  that  she  would  risk  ten  cents  on  it 
anyway,  even  if  she  had  to  carry  it  to  Manila  in  her  lap.  So 
back  we  went  to  the  wonderful  bargain  counter,  only  to 
learn  that  the  price  was  ten  "yen"  instead  of  ten  "sen,"  so 
we  didn't  invest  in  any  ten  dollar  plates  that  day.  They 
were  beautiful,  I'll  admit  that,  but  there  is  some  difference 
between  a  sen  and  a  yen. 

Shopping  with  the  Japanese  is  some  task.  One  never 
knows  when  one  has  a  bargain.  I  bought  a  scarf  pin  in  town 
for  $1.40,  and  bought  two  better  ones  from  a  peddler  on  the 
boat  for  only  50  cents  for  the  two.  And  a  young  man  who 
sat  next  to  me  in  the  dining-room  on  the  boat  had  a  scarf  pin 
exactly  like  the  two  I  bought  for  50  cents,  and  he  paid  the 
same  peddler  75  cents  for  his  and  thought  he  had  secured 
quite  a  bargain.  Mrs.  Cretcher  wanted  a  pretty  tortoise- 
shell  jewel  box  displayed  by  one  of  the  peddlers.  He  wanted 
$8.00  for  it  at  the  start.  I  finally  got  him  down  to  $4.00, 
and  Mrs.  Cretcher  insisted  that  I  should  buy  it,  as  it  was 
cheap  enough,  and  she  wanted  it!  So  I  bought  at  $4.00,  and 
before  I  got  to  my  stateroom  with  it  another  peddler  offered 
me  one  just  like  it  for  $3.00.  How  are  you  to  know  when 
you  get  a  bargain  in  Japan,  anyway? 

I  could  write  on  and  on  of  the  queer  sights  and  experience 
of  the  past  few  days,  but  I  really  haven't  time  to  write  more 
now,  and  I  am  tired.  No  more  temples  for  me.  I'm  too 
fat.  Besides,  we  are  to  leave  soon  by  rail  for  the  short  run 
down  to  Kobe,  where  we  again  join  the  steamer  Mongolia ^ 


24  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

sailing  from  there  through  the  Inland  Sea  of  Japan  to  Naga- 
saki, and  from  there  on  down  to  our  final  destination,  Manila. 
I  am  fairly  in  love  with  old  Kyoto,  and  especially  this  hotel 
with  its  accommodating  people,  its  pretty,  noiseless  Japanese 
girl  waiters,  its  handsome  fairyland  of  a  dining-room,  large, 
airy  rooms  and  splendid  service.  The  weather  is  delightful. 
Not  too  warm,  just  pleasant  like  a  Kansas  evening  in  June 
when  everything  is  just  right.  I  had  no  idea  when  we  started 
that  we  would  have  the  chance  for  such  a  delightful  trip 
through  Japan.  In  fact,  thought  we  would  be  lucky  if  we 
even  made  one  Japanese  port. 

First  thing  we  heard  before  landing  at  Yokohama,  June 
1,  was  a  wireless  message  of  the  terrible  disaster  to  th© 
Empress  of  Ireland  in  the  St.  Lawrence  River,  so  you  see  we 
get  the  news  promptly  even  if  we  are  nearly  half  way  round 
the  world.  And  one  thinks  more  seriously  about  a  disaster 
like  that  when  on  shipboard  than  when  safely  ashore  on  good 
solid  ground.  Well,  our  journey  is  nearing  the  end.  To- 
morrow the  Inland  Sea  and  Nagasaki,  then  south  to  Manila. 
Everything  is  lovely  so  far.  Here's  hoping  our  good  luck 
continues. 


CHAPTER  V. 

IN  A  TYPHOON. 

Nagasaki,  Japan,  June  4,  1914. 

We  arrived  here  this  morning  safely,  thankful  indeed  that 
our  experiences  were  no  worse.  For  we  have  been  in  a  ty- 
phoon, and  it  was  serious  business  for  a  time.  When  we 
left  Kobe  the  other  night  there  were  rumors  that  a  storm 
was  coming,  but  nobody  paid  much  attention  to  it.  Yester- 
day, when  we  were  well  out  in  the  Inland  Sea,  the  storm 
struck  us  with  sudden  fury.  It  was  the  real  hair-raising 
feature  of  our  entire  trip.  The  typhoon  is  a  big  rotary  storm 
often  hundreds  of  miles  in  circumference,  a  gigantic  cyclone 
that  is  powerful  and  destructive  on  land,  and  a  perfect  terror 
on  the  sea.  We  could  see  this  storm  coming,  a  solid  wall 
of  darkness,  and  when  it  struck  our  ship  the  wind  never 
howled  in  Kansas  like  it  did  that  day.  It  listed  the  Mon- 
golia badly  and  soon  lashed  the  waves  fairly  mountain  high, 
it  seemed  to  me.  The  Chinese  crew  saw  the  storm  coming 
and  undertook  to  take  in  the  canvas  awnings  on  the  deck. 
They  didn't  get  the  ropes  untied  before  the  storm  struck,  and 
each  Chinaman  whipped  out  his  knife  and  cut  the  ropes  and 
the  big  canvas  was  whipped  back  against  the  staterooms. 
Several  of  the  heavy  wooden  awning  supports  were  snapped 
off  and  the  crashing  timbers  and  roar  of  the  wind^nd  waves 
was  terrifying. 

I  always  thought  I  would  be  scared  if  I  encountered  a 
bad  storm  at  sea,  and  I  was  not  disappointed.  I'll  admit  I 
was  scared.  It  was  the  worst  sea  I  ever  saw,  and  they  say 
it  was  the  worst  storm  on  the  Inland  Sea  during  the  past  ten 

(25) 


26 A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

years.  The  wind  registered  a  velocity  of  112  miles  per  hour, 
so  you  may  imagine  what  a  gale  it  was.  Eighty  miles  per 
hour  is  considered  a  hurricane.  I  was  not  the  only  fright- 
ened passenger  on  board.  The  wind  whipped  the  tops  of  the 
big  waves  off  clean,  and  the  air  was  full  of  flying  spray  that 
often  obscured  the  view.  At  times  the  wind  and  roar  almost 
drowned  out  the  wailing  screech  of  the  ship's  siren  whistle, 
that  let  out  its  mournful  wail  quite  often  because  the  pilot 
couldn't  see  any  distance  ahead  or  on  either  side.  The  wail 
of  a  ship's  siren  whistle  alone  is  enough  to  give  one  the 
creeps. 

Right  when  the  storm  was  at  its  worst,  one  of  the  passen- 
gers arose  to  the  occasion  beautifully.  He  went  to  a  state- 
room, got  a  life-preserver,  wrapped  it  up  nicely  in  a  steamer 
rug  and  brought  it  to  the  social  hall  and  placed  it  on  a  lounge 
near  the  door,  for  use  of  one  of  his  lady  friends  in  case  worst 
came  to  worst.  He  was  so  proud  of  his  foresight  in  the 
great  emergency  that  he  couldn't  keep  from  talking  about  it. 
Other  timid  ladies  appealed  to  him  for  assistance,  and  for 
fully  half  an  hour  our  hero  was  as  busy  as  a  squirrel  gather- 
ing acorns.  Away  he  would  go  to  a  stateroom  and  back  he 
would  come  with  another  life-preserver  wrapped  in  a  steamer 
rug.  He  kept  this  up  until  he  had  the  women  all  excited, 
and  the  pile  of  life-preservers  in  that  corner  grew  until  it 
almost  reached  the  ceiling.  The  gusts  of  wind  that  occa- 
sionally tore  through  the  ship  whipped  the  rugs  from  the 
life-preservers,  so  that  everybody  saw  what  was  going  on. 
Then  somebody  told  the  captain,  and  when  he  appeared  on 
the  scene  he  gave  the  hero  a  talk  that  was  quite  lurid,  called 
him  everything  but  a  hero,  and  for  another  half  hour  the 
man  with  the  preparedness  idea  was  busily  engaged  carrying 
life-preservers  and  steamer  rugs  back  to  staterooms.  Evi- 
dently every  great  crisis  brings  out  a  man  of  the  hour  to 


IN  A  TYPHOON.  27 


meet  the  emergency.  This  man's  antics  would  have  been 
amusing  if  we  hadn't  all  been  so  scared  at  the  time.  As  it 
was,  I  heartily  enjoyed  hearing  the  captain  talk  to  him. 

I  don't  know  whether  you  folks  at  home  ever  heard  of  this 
big  storm ;  probably  not,  but  it  was  certainly  a  thrilling  ex- 
perience to  us.  It  is  estimated  that  over  1,000  Japanese 
fishermen  lost  their  lives  that  day  in  the  storm.  While  the 
storm  was  at  its  worst  the  Mongolia  stopped  and  rescued  four 
fishermen  from  a  wrecked  ''sampan,"  a  native  boat  that  was 
fairly  hitting  the  high  places  on  the  waves.  There  was  great 
excitement  on  board  when  the  wrecked  boat  was  sighted. 
The  occupants  had  lost  all  control  of  their  craft  and  were  at 
the  mercy  of  the  sea.  The  little  boat  could  be  seen  on  the 
crest  of  a  big  wave,  then  it  would  careen  over  and  start 
sliding  down  the  wave  into  the  trough  of  the  sea,  exactly 
like  coasting  down  hill  on  a  sled.  Then  we  would  lost  sight 
of  them  entirely  and  think  they  had  gone  down,  but  finally 
here  they  would  appear,  going  over  the  crest  of  another  mon- 
strous wave.  Captain  Rice  had  a  hard  time  in  handling  the 
Mongolia  while  shifting  around  so  as  to  bring  the  small  boat 
on  the  sheltered  side  so  that  ropes  could  be  thrown  to  the 
occupants,  but  after  about  half  an  hour  they  came  alongside 
and  were  hauled  up  over  the  side.  They  were  nearly  scared 
stiff,  and  utterly  collapsed  when  they  were  finally  on  deck. 
In  all,  the  Mongolia  made  four  stops  that  afternoon  and  res- 
cued fourteen  of  the  wrecked  fishermen  that  were  fortunate 
enough  to  be  within  our  path.  At  one  time  the  members  of 
the  crew  commenced  to  jabber  and  point  to  some  object  away 
in  the  distance.  I  got  my  field  glasses  and  was  astounded 
at  what  they  revealed.  Five  fellows  were  standing  on  the 
bottom  of  their  upturned  boat,  clinging  to  a  rope  which  they 
had  managed  to  get  around  it.  The  water  was  breaking  up 
around  their  waists  at  times.     How  they  managed  to  stick 


28  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

there  I  don't  know.  Some  of  them  didn't  manage  it.  One 
upturned  boat  that  had  three  fellows  hanging  on  to  it,  had 
had  three  more  washed  away.  The  rescue  work  was  excit- 
ing. In  every  instance  the  fishermen  hung  to  the  rescue 
ropes  or  clung  to  the  ladders  until  they  were  safely  on  board 
and  then  dropped  all  in  a  heap,  completely  exhausted.  I 
wouldn't  have  been  in  their  fix  for  anything.  Just  think  of 
being  out  in  a  sea  like  that,  standing  on  the  slippery  bottom 
of  an  upturned  boat  with  the  waves  up  to  your  waist  at  times. 
The  Inland  Sea  is  a  great  place  for  fishing  fleets  of  small 
boats,  and  the  storm  came  on  them  without  warning,  often 
upsetting  their  boats,  snapping  off  sails,  and  in  some  cases 
wrecking  the  boat  completely.  We  passed  dozens  of  up- 
turned, smashed  sampans  before  dark  that  night,  and  the  sea 
was  strewn  with  wreckage,  casks,  boxes,  timbers,  etc.  Late 
that  afternoon,  after  the  storm  had  abated  somewhat,  we 
sighted  several  small  Japanese  steamers  that  were  out  doing 
rescue  work.  The  storm  was  bad  enough  on  a  big  ship  like 
the  Mongolia.  I  can  imagine  how  the  fellows  on  the  small 
boats  felt.  The  worst  of  the  storm  only  lasted  about  four 
hours,  but  that  was  plenty  long  enough.  It  was  quite  an 
exciting  experience,  and  I  am  glad  it  is  over.  One  experience 
like  that  is  enough  for  me.  I  would  as  soon  risk  my  neck  in 
a  Kansas  tornado  as  to  be  out  at  sea  in  another  typhoon. 
At  home  you  can  at  least  crawl  into  a  cyclone  cellar.  Out 
at  sea  there  is  nothing  to  do  but  ride  it  out.  It's  aU  right, 
of  course,  if  you  ride  it  out,  but  in  case  you  didn't,  as  Mr. 
Perlmutter  would  say,  "That  would  be  something  else  al- 
ready." 

The  Japanese  we  rescued  were  given  warm  food  and  dry 
clothes  and  were  put  to  bed,  and  were  all  soon  sound  asleep. 
They  were  all  landed  today  here  in  Nagasaki,  and  the  pa«- 
sengers  raised  a  nice  little  sum  of  money  which  was  donated 


IN  A  TYPHOON.  29 


to  the  unfortunates,  being  divided  equally  among  them.  Be- 
fore the  Mongolia  sailed  a  notice  was  posted  on  board  stating 
that  the  Japanese  government  tendered  sincere  thanks  to 
Captain  Rice  and  the  Mongolia  passengers  for  their  kindness. 
We  are  to  sail  from  Nagasaki  this  afternoon  at  4  o'clock 
for  the  last  lap  of  our  journey,  then  run  down  past  the  island 
of  Formosa  and  on  down  to  Manila.  No  more  stops.  Here's 
hoping  no  more  typhoons.  Nagasaki  looks  quite  pretty  from 
the  harbor.  The  town  is  built  up  on  the  hillsides,  which 
rise  rather  abruptly  in  terraces  from  the  shore.  We  are  go- 
ing ashore  for  a  little  sight-seeing  trip.  I  hope  there  are  not 
many  temples.  I  have  climbed  enough  temple  steps  already. 
So  this  afternoon  we  bid  farewell  to  fair  Japan  and  sail  away 
for  Manila. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE  ARRIVAL. 

Manila,  June  18,  1914. 

Well  we  arrived  safe  and  sound  at  last.  It  took  nearly  a 
month  of  continuous  travel  to  get  here.  It  is  a  much  longer 
distance  when  you  come  to  travel  it  than  it  is  when  you 
merely  look  it  up  on  the  map.  If  I  should  write  a  letter 
home  expecting  a  prompt  answer,  the  best  that  could  be 
reasonably  hoped  for  would  be  to  get  the  reply  in  about  three 
months.  We  are  now  almost  half  way  round  the  world,  and 
the  more  you  travel  it  the  more  thoroughly  you  become  con- 
vinced that  it  is  a  pretty  big  world. 

It  seems  rather  queer  to  be  sitting  at  my  desk  here  in 
Manila  and  writing  a  letter  home  to  the  old  paper  on  which 
I  worked  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century ;  but  I  am  rapidly 
becoming  used  to  queer  things. 

Coming  down  from  Nagasaki,  nearly  one  thousand  miles 
south  to  Manila,  the  weather  warmed  up  considerably.  We 
traveled  one  whole  day  in  sight  of  the  island  of  Formosa.  It 
was  a  much  larger  island  than  I  expected  to  see.  It  is 
governed  by  Japan.  The  first  day  out  of  Nagasaki,  the 
ship's  officers  all  appeared  in  white  uniforms  for  the  first 
time  on  the  trip,  a  pretty  good  indication  that  we  were  ap- 
proaching the  Tropics.  They  looked  fine.  I  Hke  nice  white 
clothes,  they  look  so  cool  and  clean. 

We  arrived  in  Manila,  Monday,  June  8,  having  traveled 
steadily  for  the  Orient  since  leaving  Newton,  on  Sunday, 
May  10,  almost  a  month.  When  we  passed  the  fortified 
island  of  Corregidor  at  the  entrance  to  Manila  Bay  I  sup- 

(30) 


THE  ARRIVAL.  31 


posed  we  were  right  at  Manila,  but  to  my  surprise  found  that 
there  was  a  steady  run  of  three  hours  across  the  bay  before 
we  anchored  outside  the  breakwater  for  customs  and  quaran- 
tine inspection.  As  we  came  across  the  bay  we  could  see 
historic  Cavite  on  the  bay  shore  off  to  the  right. 

Governor  Martin  and  several  other  officials  were  at  the 
pier  to  welcome  us,  and  he  had  all  my  luggage  passed  without 
the  troublesome  inspection,  which  was  fine,  but  on  my  bag- 
gage declaration  I  had  stated  that  I  had  a  shotgun  among 
my  possessions.  That  meant  trouble  for  me,  for  the  officials 
demanded  that  I  produce  the  gun  at  once  and  turn  it  over 
to  the  Constabulary.  You  can't  bring  a  gun  into  the  Islands 
nor  buy  nor  use  one  here  without  getting  a  permit  and  put- 
ting up  a  bond  of  100  pesos.  This  was  news  to  me,  but  it 
was  clearly  up  to  me  to  produce  the  gun.  It  was  hot  in  that 
old  shed  at  Pier  No.  5,  red  hot  it  seemed  to  me.  The  gun 
was  in  the  bottom  of  one  of  my  trunks  that  was  strapped  and 
roped  the  most  securely.  I  eventually  got  to  it  and  turned 
it  over  to  the  officer,  but  the  process  certainly  took  all  the 
starch  out  of  my  clothing.  Dressed  in  good  old  heavy 
States  clothes  I  perspired  like  a  harvest  hand.  It  was  my 
first  introduction  to  tropic  heat,  and  was  rather  startling. 
I  thought  I  surely  would  melt  before  I  got  out  of  there.  The 
officers  gave  me  a  receipt  for  my  gun  and  will  hold  it  until 
I  leave  the  Islands  or  come  across  with  the  money.  When  I 
am  assured  that  I  can  have  sport  enough  to  justify  it,  I  will 
take  my  gun  out  of  soak.  You  get  your  money  back  when 
you  leave,  so  I  guess  it's  all  right. 

I  was  glad  to  leave  that  old  pier,  and  enjoyed  a  short 
spin  around  town  in  an  automobile  before  arriving  at  the 
Manila  Hotel,  where  we  were  temporarily  stopping.  There 
was  a  rainstorm  off  on  the  mountains  to  the  north  of  Manila 
and  a  nice  little  shower  later  in  Manila.     I  remember  I 


32  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

thought  the  shower  would  surely  cool  things  off  and  the  next 
day  would  probably  be  more  pleasant.  That's  the  way  it 
usually  works  at  home,  but  it  didn't  work  here.  It  can  rain 
every  fifteen  minutes  and  still  be  hot  and  sultry. 

We  now  have  nice  rooms  at  the  Olmstead.  They  face  out 
on  the  bay,  nearly  opposite  the  Elks  Club  and  the  Army  and 
Navy  Club.  We  are  located  near  the  Luneta,  a  public  park, 
where  the  crowds  congregate  and  the  famous  Constabulary 
band  plays  every  evening.  The  parade  grounds  are  right  in 
line  as  I  come  down  to  work,  and  every  morning  as  I  come 
past  on  the  way  to  my  office  in  the  Walled  City,  the  American 
soldiers  are  out  drilling  on  the  green.  They  have  a  fine  band, 
and  to  see  the  boys  marching,  the  flags  flying,  and  to  hear 
the  band  playing  good  old  American  tunes,  makes  one  feel 
pretty  good.     Who  said  I  was  homesick? 

This  is  my  second  week  in  Manila  and  things  don't  look 
quite  so  strange  to  me  as  they  did  at  first.  They  say  Manila 
has  been  Americanized  a  great  deal.  It  still  looks  like  any- 
thing but  an  American  city  to  me.  Last  Sunday  in  company 
with  Governor  Martin  we  enjoyed  an  auto  ride  away  out  to 
the  northern  limits  of  the  city,  and  came  back  through  the 
Tondo,  or  native,  district.  Of  course  I  am  a  tenderfoot,  but 
if  that  quarter  of  the  town  with  its  narrow  streets  and  rows 
of  little  huts  of  nipa  and  bamboo  has  been  Americanized,  I 
am  wondering  what  it  was  like  before  the  change. 

Governor  Martin  has  been  very  good  to  us  since  we  ar- 
rived, and  the  favors  are  doubly  appreciated  in  a  land  like 
this  where  we  are  strangers  to  everything  and  to  everybody. 
All  the  people  have  a  good  word  for  Governor  Martin.  He 
is  apparently  trying  to  give  all  classes  an  absolutely  square 
deal.  They  have  faith  in  his  good  common  sense  and  sin- 
cerity of  purpose.  He  wants  to  do  the  right  thing,  and  seems 
to  be  doing  it  without  ostentation  or  display.     He  has  a 


THE  ARRIVAL.  33 


man's  size  job,  and  it  is  a  pleasure  to  see  the  big,  sturdy 
Kansan  filling  it  so  acceptably. 

My  work  for  the  present  will  be  the  organization  of  agri- 
cultural societies  among  the  farmers  in  the  provinces.  It  is 
the  present  plan  to  organize  a  central  or  governing  society 
in  each  province,  so  my  work  of  organizing  the  same  will 
eventually  take  me  nearly  all  over  the  archipelago.  There  is 
practically  no  organization  among  the  farmers  here  at  pres- 
ent. A  prominent  Filipino  has  been  assigned  to  go  with  me 
and  assist  in  the  work,  Hon.  Monico  Mercado,  a  lawyer  and 
ex-delegate  to  the  Legislature  from  Pampanga.  He  is  well 
educated,  speaks  Spanish  and  English,  has  an  automobile  (a 
fine  French  car),  and  knows  the  Islands  and  the  people  quite 
well.  I  anticipate  that  we  will  get  along  fine.  We  have  ar- 
ranged to  start  out  on  our  first  trip  to  the  provinces  of  central 
Luzon  early  next  month.  I  can't  even  pronounce  the  names 
of  some  of  the  places  we  are  going  to  visit.  Cabanatuan, 
Nueva  Ecija,  is  one  of  them.  Try  that  on  your  piano.  I 
expect  I  will  know  more  about  the  Phihppines  by  the  time  I 
write  again.  Here  in  Manila  there  are  plenty  of  strange 
sights,  but  I  presume  this  town  of  300,000  people  is  hardly 
typical  of  the  Islands. 

There  are  over  thirty  moving-picture  shows  in  Manila, 
some  of  them  first-class.  There  are  three  daily  newspapers 
printed  in  English.  Only  one  of  these  daily  papers  has  lino- 
type machines  at  the  present  time.  The  others  are  hand  set, 
and  they  are  good-sized  papers,  too.  They  say  labor  is  so 
cheap  they  can  hardly  afford  to  use  machines.  I  haven't 
been  around  to  the  newspaper  offices  as  yet.  There  is  so 
much  politics  over  here,  and  they  went  after  me  so  hot  right 
from  the  jump,  that  I  assure  you  I  had  no. desire  to  court 
any  more  of  that  kind  of  publicity  than  was  absolutely  nec- 
essary.    Not  being  able  to  get  an  interview  with  me,  one  of 


34  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

the  weekly  papers  published  an  imaginary  one,  heading  the 
article  *'An  Imaginary  Interview  with  Dr.  Cretcher,"  in 
which  I  was  roasted  to  a  frazzle.  The  daily  papers  as  a  rule 
have  been  much  kinder ;  but  even  so,  I  have  the  impression 
somehow  that  I  am  certainly  getting  all  that's  coming  to  me. 

There  was  a  typhoon  here  last  week.  The  center  of  the 
storm  went  north  of  Manila,  but  a  stiff  blow  was  registered 
here.  It  sent  one  small  steamer  ashore  and  onto  the  rocks 
almost  right  in  our  back  yard.  The  sailors  got  a  line  ashore 
and  came  off  hand  over  hand.  The  rest  of  the  ships  in  the 
bay  rode  the  storm  out  in  good  shape,  although  some  of  them 
dragged  their  anchors  and  came  pretty  close  in.  They  say 
there  is  good  jacksnipe  shooting  within  an  hour's  ride  of 
Manila,  and  that  duck  shooting  is  good,  especially  along 
about  November.  That  doesn't  sound  bad.  Wild  hogs  are 
said  to  be  numerous  in  certain  localities,  but  are  hard  to  get 
sight  of.  Plenty  of  deer,  too.  Filipinos  sometimes  catch 
them  in  w^oven  nets.  Where  firearms  are  used,  the  plan  is  to 
get  them  after  night  with  a  torch.  The  deer  approach  out  of 
curiosity  and  are  then  shot.  That  doesn't  sound  like  sport 
to  me. 

I  am  beginning  to  get  mail  from  home,  but  mail  comes  in 
bunches.  Big  bundle  of  papers  and  letters,  then  nothing  do- 
ing for  a  week  or  two.  But  news  is  news,  even  if  it  is  a 
month  in  reaching  here.  Right  here  in  Manila  the  daily 
papers  of  say  June  18  will  have  news  items  from  the  States 
under  date  of  May  8,  May  11,  and  so  on.  It's  the  best  we 
can  do.  The  good  old  Kansas  farmer,  getting  his  daily  pa- 
pers deHvered  at  his  rural  mail  box  every  day,  hooked  up  by 
telephone  with  the  whole  country,  with  an  automobile,  good 
horses,  fat  cattle,  plenty  to  eat,  close  to  good  churches, 
schools  and  towns,  probably  doesn't  realize  all  his  advantages. 
He  would  if  he  resided  in  the  Orient  for  awhile. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 

Manila,  June  30,  1914. 

No  doubt  you  would  like  to' know  how  this  country  looks 
to  a  man  from  Kansas.  I  haven't  seen  much  of  it  as  yet, 
but  what  I  have  seen  is  about  as  foreign  to  anything  we  have 
at  home  as  you  could  well  imagine.  After  I  have  traveled 
around  more,  I  hope  to  have  a  better  viewpoint.  Now 
everything  is  new  and  strange,  and  I  feel  like  a  cat  in  a 
strange  garret.  I  presume  the  Philippines  cannot  be  judged 
by  Manila  any  more  than  America  could  be  judged  by  New 
York,  and  Manila  is  about  all  of  the  Philippines  I  have  seen 
so  far. 

It  is  a  big  town  of  about  300,000  people,  cosmopolitan,  all 
shades  of  color  from  pure  white  to  African  black.  Dark 
skins  predominate.  Of  an  evening  on  the  Luneta  when  the 
band  is  playing  and  the  crowds  congregate  to  enjoy  the  sea 
breeze,  hear  the  band  play,  and  visit  with  each  other,  one 
may  see  almost  every  nationality,  costume  and  color.  There 
are  soldiers  in  uniform,  Filipinos,  American  men  and  women, 
Chinese,  Japanese,  Hindus,  Spaniards,  French,  English,  Ger- 
man, and  a  little  of  it  all  mixed.  A  man  of  mixed  blood 
is  called  here  a  '^mestizo."  Manila  has  a  pretty  good  street 
railway  and  interurban  service,  quite  a  number  of  English, 
Spanish,  and  Tagalog  daily  newspapers,  a  score  of  weekly 
papers,  saloons  without  number,  some  beautiful  old  churches, 
some  dance-houses  and  road-houses  that  are  not  so  beautiful, 
many  moving-picture  shows,  invariably  spoken  of  as  a  ''cine," 
a  big  beautiful,  modern  hotel  ''The  Manila,"  many  good 

(35) 


36  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

clubs,  including  the  Army  and  Navy,  the  Elks,  the  Spanish, 
the  Columbia,  the  University,  and  several  others.  In  the 
American  quarter  where  we  reside,  Americans  are  so  nu- 
merous that  if  it  were  not  for  the  queer  architecture  of  the 
buildings  and  surrounding  scenery  it  would  not  be  hard  to 
imagine  one  was  somewhere  in  the  States. 

Manila  is  a  lovely  place,  especially  after  sundown  when 
the  lights  are  on.  I  can  sit  in  my  window  facing  the  Elks 
Club  and  see  the  ships  at  anchor  in  the  bay  close  at  hand. 
I  can  see  the  lights  twinkling  across  the  bay  at  Cavite,  where 
the  Spanish  fleet  was  pounded  to  pieces  by  Dewey's  guns 
that  famous  morning  in  May,  can  see  the  blue  mountains 
out  toward  the  harbor  entrance  behind  which  the  sun  drops 
to  rest,  leaving  a  splash  of  color  in  the  sky  that  is  at  times 
marvelous,  and  can  watch  the  great  billowy  clouds  as  they 
are  transformed  with  the  borrowed  colors  of  the  sunset's 
glory.  Then  a  glance  across  at  Manila  with  its  millions  of 
sparkling  electric  Hghts  and  the  subdued  outlines  of  its  build- 
ings, even  over  in  the  Walled  City,  the  tropic  vegetation,  the 
crowds  of  people  all  dressed  in  white  on  the  Luneta,  the 
Sunken  Gardens  and  the  green  of  Wallace  Field — it  is  a 
beautiful  picture  indeed. 

The  really  old  part  of  the  town  is  the  Intramuros,  or 
Walled  City,  on  the  south  bank  of  the  Pasig  River.  The 
walls  are  not  like  the  old  wall  at  St.  Augustine,  Florida, 
merely  an  old  gateway  preserved  to  show  where  the  wall 
had  been.  The  walls  of  Intramuros  are  of  heavy  masonry, 
and  have  stood  thus  for  nearly  three  hundred  years.  They 
completely  surround  the  old  original  Spanish  town,  and  were 
built  for  business.  The  Bureau  of  Agriculture,  where  I 
have  my  office,  is  in  the  Walled  City.  I  have  a  nice,  cool 
office,  electric  fan,  and  all  modern  conveniences.  The 
weather  now  is  pleasant  but  rather  warm,  but  I  do  not  suffer 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  37 

with  the  heat  as  I  did  during  summer  time  at  home.  They 
say  that  when  the  rainy  season  now  due  sets  in,  it  will  be 
much  cooler,  and  that  in  November,  December  and  January 
the  climate  is  delightful.  April,  May  and  June  are  the  really 
hot  months. 

Am  busy  now  getting  ready  for  my  first  journey  out  to 
the  provinces.  After  a  few  trips  over  the  Islands  I  should 
be  in  a  position  to  write  more  reliably  about  the  Philip- 
pines. Last  Sunday  I  was  out  on  a  fifty-mile  auto  trip,  and 
saw  a  few  things  that  surprised  me.  At  one  place  I  saw 
natives  out  catching  grasshoppers.  They  had  several  gunny- 
sacks  full  of  the  hoppers,  and  I  was  told  they  were  catching 
them  for  food.  I  guess  that  is  all  right,  too.  A  grasshopper 
is  fully  as  cleanly  in  his  habits  and  table  manners  as  the 
pigs  and  chickens  that  we  use  for  food  back  home,  but 
somehow  the  idea  of  eating  grasshoppers  doesn't  appeal  to 
me.  It  is  of  course  the  thought  of  the  thing,  having  been 
accustomed  to  considering  the  grasshopper  as  a  bug,  and  not 
fit  for  food.  But  having  been  raised  that  way,  I  believe  I 
will  continue  to  stick  to  the  food  I  am  used  to  as  long  as  I 
can  obtain  it,  and  not  try  any  experiments  with  grasshop- 
pers. 

I  also  saw  youngsters  probably  seven  to  eight  years  of  age 
running  around  without  any  clothes  on,  not  even  a  ''gee- 
string."  That  seemed  rather  queer  to  me,  but  I  suppose 
it's  like  everything  else,  I  will  get  used  to  it  in  time.  I 
realize  that  so  far  as  the  climate  is  concerned  the  youngsters 
do  not  really  need  any  clothing,  and  they  seem  as  happy 
and  unconcerned  as  any  little  kid  all  dolled  up  in  fluffy  ruffles 
back  home. 

On  this  short  journey  I  also  saw  thousands  of  acres  of 
land  uncultivated  that  would  feed  a  great  population  if 
farmed  as  intensely  as  in  Japan.     We  traveled  on  a  fine  road, 


38  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

finer  than  any  road  I  ever  saw  in  Kansas ;  but  the  road  was 
about  the  only  fine  thing  I  saw.  The  people  apparently  do 
not  live  on  their  farms  in  this  country.  They  are  huddled 
up  in  little  towns  called  '*  barrios,"  and  merely  go  out  to 
the  farm  to  work.  These  barrios  seem  overcrowded;  the 
houses  are  not  inviting  to  a  stranger  fresh  from  the  attractive 
country  homes  of  America.  The  streets  in  these  barrios  are 
narrow  and  crowded  with  youngsters,  chickens,  pigs,  dogs, 
carabaos,  and  I  was  constantly  in  fear  that  the  automobile 
would  run  over  somebody  all  the  time  we  were  traveling. 

I  try  to  realize  that  the  country  is  all  new  to  me,  and  that 
what  seems  so  strange  now  will  not  appear  that  way  after 
a  time,  but  that  first  trip  only  a  little  way  out  of  Manila 
made  me  think  seriously.  I  know  I  am  "green,"  but  if  the 
Philippines  look  like  that  so  close  to  Manila,  what  must  it 
be  like  out  in  the  provinces  or  on  some  of  the  isolated  islands? 
I  have  heard  tales  of  the  savage  Moros  and  the  Igorots  of 
northern  Luzon  who  eat  dogs.  I  guess  dog  is  as  good  as 
grasshoppers,  but  right  now  I  don't  fancy  grasshoppers.  I 
am  wondering  what  proportion  of  the  people  of  the  Philip- 
pines belong  to  these  wild  tribes.  Also  wondering  how  I 
should  go  about  ''organizing"  that  sort  of  ''farmers"  in  case 
that  should  be  part  of  my  duties.  These  and  many  other 
questions  I  am  asking  myself  right  now  with  no  satisfactory 
solution.  It  is  of  course  because  I  am  a  stranger  in  a  strange 
land.  However,  I  am  not  too  old  to  learn,  and  I  will  not 
attempt  to  cross  very  many  bridges  until  I  come  to  them. 
Any  question  that  is  too  big  a  puzzle  I  can  check  up  to  my 
Filipino  assistant,  the  Honorable  Mr.  Mercado.  He  ought 
to  know.  In  the  meantime,  I  expect  to  learn  a  few  things 
myself. 

I  have  noticed  that  my  limited  supply  of  Spanish  language 
doesn't  accomplish  much.     I  wish  I  could  speak  it.     I  know 


FIRST  IMPRESSIONS.  39 

only  a  very  little  Spanish,  and  when  I  hear  people  convers- 
ing in  that  tongue,  if  I  listen  carefully  for  the  course  of  half 
an  hour  I  can  usually  understand  one  or  two  words  they 
have  said  in  all  that  time.  They  seemingly  talk  so  fast  I 
can't  keep  up  with  them,  and  it  is  soon  all  a  jabber  that 
sounds  like  good  English  that  had  been  run  through  a  sau- 
sage machine. 

Mrs.  Cretcher  is  away  now  on  a  tour  of  the  southern  is- 
lands in  company  with  Dr.  Waters  and  family  and  a  party  of 
government  officials,  and  I  am  left  to  my  own  resources,  and 
am  having  a  great  time  trying  to  wear  white  clothes  and 
smoke  cigarettes.  Everybody  wears  white  except  when  on 
trips  or  in  rainy  weather.  Then  the  costume  is  khaki  suit  of 
sack  coat  and  English  riding  breeches,  tan  shoes,  and  leggings. 
I  have  eight  suits  of  white  and  several  suits  of  khaki  for  a 
starter.  Both  kinds  of  suits  can  be  laundered,  and  it  only 
costs  six  cents  gold  to  have  a  coat  and  pair  of  trousers  washed 
and  ironed.  I  have  as  much  trouble  trying  to  keep  a  white 
suit  clean  as  I  do  in  learning  to  smoke  cigarettes.  I  don't 
think  much  of  a  cigarette,  but  over  here  nearly  everybody 
smokes  them,  and  yet  roast  those  who  chew  the  ''weed.'* 
Well,  I  will  soon  be  out  in  the  provinces.  The  Bible  says 
Saint  John  got  along  on  locusts  and  wild  honey,  so  I  ought 
to  be  able  to  get  along  some  way.  In  the  meantime,  rest 
assured  we  are  having  a  fine  time ;  and,  joking  aside,  the 
work  ahead  of  me  is  a  really  big  task  that  is  worth  while, 
and  I  am  going  into  it  with  all  the  energy  and  determination 
I  possess.  In  case  I  do  not  make  good,  I  am  familiar  with 
the  road  that  leads  back  home. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

IN  THE  PROVINCES. 

Manila,  Sept.  4,  1914. 

I  have  now  been  in  the  PhiHppines  nearly  three  months. 
It  has  been  just  about  two  months  since  I  started  on  my  first 
journey  out  in  the  provinces.  In  that  time  I  have  been  go- 
ing some.  I  have  visited  twenty  provinces,  and  to  do  so 
have  traveled  from  Pangasinan  and  Nueva  Ecija  on  the 
north,  through  every  province  in  Luzon  clear  down  to  Ambos 
Camarines,  Albay  and  Sorsogon.  I  have  been  to  far-away 
Puerto  Princesa  on  the  island  of  Palawan,  where  they  receive 
mail  once  in  twenty-four  days  if  they  are  lucky.  I  have 
been  all  around  the  island  of  Mindoro,  and  visited  the  is- 
lands of  Panay,  Negros,  Cebu,  Romblon  and  many  others. 

And  the  experiences  have  been  many  and  varied.  I  have 
traveled  by  rail  several  hundred  miles,  also  by  good  steamers 
and  bad,  by  bancas  with  outriggers  and  without.  Have 
traveled  on  horseback  and  in  carts.  I  understand  there  is 
one  airship  over  here.  I  may  tackle  that  next.  And  I  have 
seen  the  Filipino  at  pretty  close  range;  and  although  all 
the  old-timers  over  here  loudly  proclaim  that  no  man  ought 
to  have  even  a  faint  flicker  of  intelligence  about  local  ''con- 
ditions" until  he  has  been  here  at  least  ten  years,  take  it 
from  me,  I  don't  care  to  wait  that  long  to  tell  the  little  I 
have  seen.  For  after  that  length  of  residence  here  they 
sometimes  begin  to  give  the  man  their  pity  and  say  the  poor 
fellow  has  ''missed  too  many  boats  for  home." 

First  of  all,  the  Filipinos  are  hospitable.  They  can't  do 
too  much  for  you  in  the  way  of  entertainment.     They  will 

(40) 


THE  MANILA  HOTEL 

SAID  TO  BE  THE  FINEST  HOTEL  IN  THE  ORIENT 


THE  LUNETA 

POPULAR  PARK  WHERE  THE  BAND  PLAYS  EVERY  EVENING 


IN  THE  PROVINCES.  41 

give  you  a  big  dinner  of  twelve  to  sixteen  courses  even  if 
they  have  to  Hve  on  fish  and  rice  for  two  weeks  afterward ; 
and  a  good  many  of  them  don't  need  to  do  that,  as  they  are 
pretty  well  fixed.  They  will  readily  give  up  their  bed  to  a 
guest  and  sleep  on  the  floor.  Usually  when  I  have  been  in- 
vited into  a  Filipino  home,  the  owner  bows  and  motions  to 
the  steps  leading  up  to  his  home,  saying  to  me  :  "  Your  house, 
Mr.  Cretcher,'^  and  he  tries  to  carry  out  that  idea,  and  when 
thanked  for  his  hospitality  asks  you  to  show  your  apprecia- 
tion by  coming  back  again. 

And  they  are  very  courteous,  and  quick  with  a  retort. 
In  one  province  I  was  the  guest  of  the  Governor,  a  very 
bright  young  man,  only  about  twenty-five  years  of  age.  I 
thought  to  compliment  him,  and  spoke  of  the  bright  future 
of  a  young  man  who  could  land  the  job  of  Governor  of  a 
province  while  so  young,  and  I  suggested  that  in  time  he 
might  be  President  of  the  Philippine  Republic,  and  that  I 
might  be  back  home  in  the  United  States  at  that  time,  yet 
I  hoped  he  would  send  me  a  cablegram  announcing  his  elec- 
tion. He  listened  very  carefully  until  I  had  finished,  then 
said  very  promptly : 

''There  will  be  no  need  to  send  a  cablegram  to  you,  sir. 
If  your  surmise  is  true  and  we  have  a  Philippine  Republic, 
you  will  certainly  be  right  here  serving  as  Ambassador  from 
the  United  States." 

You  can't  head  them  off  on  compliments,  because  you 
can't  beat  a  man  at  his  own  game. 

I  have  seen  thousands  of  acres  of  rice  over  here.  It  is 
all  planted  by  hand,  not  raised  in  big  fields  like  they  do 
down  in  Louisiana.  Rice  is  started  in  a  seed  bed,  then  they 
pull  it  up,  carry  it  to  the  field  and  transplant  it  by  jabbing 
it  down  in  the  soft  mud.  It  must  be  back-breaking  work 
tramping  around  in  mud  and  water  knee  deep  all  day  long, 


42  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

jabbing  young  rice  stalks  into  the  mud.  Imagine  a  Kansas 
farmer  putting  in  wheat  a  stalk  at  a  time!  But  this  part 
of  the  job  is  the  women's  work,  and  to  make  it  more  inter- 
esting and  at  the  same  time  to  see  that  they  work  with  more 
spirit,  the  proprietor  often  hires  one  or  two  musicians  to  sit 
up  on  the  rice  embankment  and  thump  a  guitar,  always  some 
lively  air.  Jabbing  in  rice  to  ragtime  music  is  at  least  more 
profitable  than  the  tango  and  turkey  trot  stunts  of  our  women 
back  home.  There  is  room  for  them  out  here  if  they  would 
like  to  try  it. 

But  really  it  is  a  frightful  job  for  a  woman.  In  mud  and 
water  up  to  their  knees,  and  higher,  wallowing  around  all 
day  long.  I  don't  see  how  they  stand  it.  But  hubby,  who 
drives  the  carabao  and  gets  the  field  all  into  a  nice  mud 
puddle  ready  for  the  planting,  then  takes  his  time  off.  I 
have  seen  more  than  one  of  them  sitting  in  the  nipa  shack 
smoking  the  inevitable  cigarette  and  taking  care  of  baby 
while  the  wife  took  her  place  in  the  field.  The  Kansas 
women  haven't  made  much  progress  yet  in  merely  getting 
the  ballot.  They  are  still  away  behind  this  country.  Here 
the  women  are  the  equal  of  the  men  in  nearly  every  way. 
The  Chinese  women  even  wear  pants,  nice  green,  blue  and 
black  pants  that  come  down  to  their  shoe  tops. 

Over  at  Balanga,  province  of  Bataan,  across  the  bay  from 
Manila,  we  landed  from  the  steamer  one  morning  quite  early. 
The  boat  can't  get  close  to  shore,  and  a  banca  or  native  boat 
comes  out  to  take  passengers  ashore.  It  is  a  frail  affair, 
and  by  the  time  we  pushed  away  from  the  steamer  we  had  a 
miscellaneous  cargo,  including  dogs,  chickens,  fish,  and  a  few 
other  things  besides  the  people.  Natives  poked  long  poles 
to  the  bottom  and  pushed  our  craft  toward  the  shore.  In 
landing  it  was  necessary  to  climb  on  a  native's  shoulders  and 


IN  THE  PROVINCES,  43 

be  carried  through  the  shallow  water.  It  was  my  first  ex- 
perience of  that  sort,  but  it  has  often  happened  since  then. 
I  am  always  afraid  my  man  will  stumble  and  fall  down  with 
me,  but  I  haven't  had  an  accident  yet.  Coming  back  to  the 
steamer  the  next  day,  our  banca,  loaded  with  fish,  got  stuck 
on  a  sandbar.  We  had  to  transfer  to  a  Hghter  boat,  and  it 
got  stuck,  and  all  the  while  the  sun  was  shining  blistering 
hot  on  the  water,  but  we  finally  reached  the  steamer. 

Either  the  people  over  here  do  most  everything  backward, 
or  else  we  do.  Which  is  it?  In  playing  checkers  they  insist 
that  the  double  corner  of  the  board  should  be  on  the  left- 
hand  side  instead  of  the  right.  In  dealing  cards  the  dealer 
invariably  deals  to  the  right  and  on  around  the  table.  We 
deal  to  the  left.  Also  the  play  rotates  from  right  to  left 
around  the  board.  Our  builders  commence  to  erect  a  house 
by  first  building  the  foundation.  The  Filipinos  always  build 
the  roof  first.  Here  when  teams  or  pedestrians  pass,  they 
turn  to  the  left  instead  of  the  right.  To  lock  a  door  you 
turn  the  key  to  the  left,  not  right,  and  so  on  all  along  the 
line.  It's  awkward  as  can  be  sometimes,  and  I  wonder  how 
they  come  to  do  things  exactly  the  opposite  from  our  way. 

And  the  railroads  here  in  Luzon  would  certainly  make  you 
smile.  Little  coaches  not  half  as  large  as  ours.  And  the 
fuss  they  make  in  ringing  bells,  tooting  horns  and  blowing 
whistles  before  they  leave  some  little  station!  And  the  na- 
tive peddlers  at  the  car  windows,  especially  those  who  ped- 
dle the  boiled  duck  eggs  with  the  young  duck  neatly  folded 
up  inside!  That's  one  native  delicacy  I  haven't  had  nerve  to 
tackle  yet.  If  I  buy  any  refreshments  from  a  native  peddler 
it  is  usually  some  fruit  like  a  banana  that  can  be  peeled  to 
make  sure  it  is  clean.  Drinking  water  is  not  the  menace 
here  that  it  once  was.    In  many  towns  they  have  artesian 


44  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

wells,  the  water  flowing  freely  all  the  time,  absolutely  free 
from  contamination.  It  is  a  great  thing,  and  has  lowered  the 
death  rate  wonderfully. 

At  one  town  we  stopped  at  the  Governor's  home,  but  took 
a  local  trip  and  went  to  the  convent  to  stay  while  there.  It 
was  a  great  place,  and  the  *' padre"  was  as  kind  as  he  could 
be.  It  was  a  regular  haven  of  refuge  after  some  of  the  ex- 
periences we  had  encountered.  Large,  airy,  cool  rooms,  good 
comfortable  beds,  and  splendid  meals,  also  bath  and  toilet. 
It  is  hard  to  realize  just  how  good  such  a  place  seemed  in  a 
squalid  provincial  town  when  the  rain  was  pounding  down 
and  no  other  refuge.  There  were  cigars,  cards,  checkers, 
and  big  easy-chairs.  The  padre  was  a  pretty  fair  checker 
player,  and  I  had  some  good  games  with  him  while  our  en- 
forced stay  continued,  while  waiting  for  the  steamer  to  take 
us  back  to  Manila.  There  are  few  hotels  in  the  provinces, 
many  capitals  having  none  at  all.  But  I  wouldn't  care  if  I 
could  always  stop  with  such  a  hospitable  priest. 

There  are  priests  and  padres  and  friars  galore  in  this 
country,  largely  a  result  of  Latin  rule  for  300  years.  Nearly 
every  little  town  has  a  great  stone  church,  often  in  ruins. 
I  don't  know  much  about  the  brands  of  religion,  but  am  sur- 
prised at  the  numbers  of  kinds  of  it  under  the  Catholic  head. 
The  monks  or  friars  have  numerous  orders,  the  Jesuits,  Do- 
minicans, Franciscans,  Recoletans,  Paules,  Bedas,  Capuch- 
inas,  La  Selles,  and  I  don't  know  how  many  other  varieties, 
all  represented  here,  but  not  flourishing  as  in  the  old  days. 
They  have  churches  and  convents  in  the  most  unheard  of 
and  out  of  the  way  places,  not  frail,  nipa  affairs,  but  great 
big  structures  of  concrete  or  stone. 

I  haven't  seen  a  Filipino  under  the  influence  of  liquor 
since  I  arrived  in  the  Islands.  They  seem  inclined  to  leave 
that  to  the  Americans,  who  manage  to  do  a  fair  job  at  it. 


IN  THE  PROVINCES.  45 

As  a  race  they  do  not  take  kindly  to  our  indulgence  in  booze, 
which  is  a  very  fine  thing  for  them.  My  friend,  Mr.  Mer- 
cado,  once  drank  a  cocktail  and  was  quite  alarmed  over  its 
effects,  assuring  me  that  he  was  afraid  it  might  cause  him  to 
''lose  his  seriousness,"  as  he  expressed  it.  But  the  Filipino 
smokes.  Even  the  kids  puff  away  at  cigarettes,  and  it  is  no 
uncommon  sight  to  see  a  well-dressed  Filipino  woman  walk- 
ing along  the  streets,  smoking  a  big  black  cigar.  It's  like  a 
good  many  other  things,  it  seems  all  right  after  you  get  used 
to  it. 

The  cock  fight  is  the  national  ''sport"  here.  Every  na- 
tive has  his  pet  rooster  that  he  strokes  and  pets,  and  con- 
fidently expects  will  kill  every  other  bird  in  the  barrio,  and 
make  him  a  hatful  of  money  thereby.  Usually  the  biggest 
building  in  the  barrio  is  the  cockpit,  and  Sunday  is  the  big 
day.  It  is  a  regular  board  of  trade  for  gambling.  The  fight 
is  not  a  fair  fight  with  spurs.  A  sharp  blade  is  fastened  on 
the  bird,  and  one  good  rip  and  it's  all  off  with  one  or  the 
other  of  the  contestants.  Athletic  contests  introduced  by 
Americans  are  gradually  gaining  a  foothold,  to  the  detriment 
of  the  cock  fighting,  but  only  slowly.  "^The  Filipino  thinks  as 
much  of  his  pet  bird  as  a  Mexican  does  of  his  hat,  or  a  hunter 
of  his  shotgun,  or  a  Kentuckian  of  his  "boss,"  and  he  is 
slow  in  giving  up  his  favorite  pastime. 

One  night  a  train  out  of  Manila  hit  a  carabao  that  hap- 
pened to  be  on  the  track.  It  knocked  the  engine  off  the 
rails  and  caused  quite  a  commotion.  We  were  on  another 
train  that  was  coming  in  to  Manila,  and  of  course  couldn't 
get  past  the  wreck.  After  fooling  around  for  nearly  an  hour 
it  was  decided  to  have  the  passengers  exchange  trains  and 
they  would  haul  the  wrecked  train  back  to  Manila  and  send 
our  train  on  the  back  track  with  outgoing  passengers.  It 
meant  a  transfer  of  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  mile  on  a  slippery 


46  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

embankment,  and  it  was  quite  dark.  When  Mr.  Mercado's 
muchacho  learned  that  we  had  to  change  he  said  ''dam"  in 
fairly  good  English,  and  was  almost  justified  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  the  luggage  of  our  party  consisted  of  five  suitcases, 
a  handbag,  a  typewriter,  a  box  of  supplies,  three  raincoats, 
umbrellas,  and  a  few  other  articles. 

My  Spanish  is  improving.  The  other  day  in  a  barber 
shop  I  had  quite  a  conversation  with  a  barber.  As  he  tucked 
the  apron  under  my  chin  he  said  something  in  Spanish  that 
sounded  to  me  like  ''It  is  pretty  warm  today."  As  it  was 
really  quite  warm,  I  jumped  at  the  conclusion  that  he  said 
that,  and  in  my  very  best  Spanish  I  replied,  "Yes,  sir." 
Come  to  find  out  he  was  not  talking  to  me  at  all,  but  had 
merely  told  the  porter  to  bring  him  some  hot  water.  All  of 
which  shows  that  the  learning  of  Spanish  is  a  slow  process, 
likewise  that  it  pays  to  keep  your  mouth  shut  until  you  know 
what  you  are  talking  about.  However,  I  am  learning  a  good 
many  things  as  I  journey  along,  but  not  very  much  Spanish, 
although  I  hear  it  often. 

One  day  down  in  Tayabas  I  had  the  opportunity  to  attend 
a  Filipino  funeral.  I  did  not  go  merely  out  of  curiosity,  but 
the  sights  were  very  interesting.  The  deceased  was  a  very 
prominent  man,  father  of  the  ex-Governor  of  the  province,  I 
believe.  There  was  a  brass  band  in  the  funeral  parade,  be- 
sides an  orchestra  consisting  of  seven  violins,  a  cornet,  slide 
trombone,  piccolo,  and  a  drum.  I  marched  right  behind  the 
orchestra,  and  as  they  played  the  same  tune  over  and  over 
again  I  became  quite  familiar  with  it  while  marching  out  to 
the  cemetery.  The  women  who  attended  the  funeral  were 
all  dressed  in  black.  When  the  procession  left  the  house  of 
mourning  it  was  halted,  wailing  mourners  and  all,  for  fully 
ten  minutes  while  a  photographer  fooled  around  making  a 
picture  of  the  crowd.     There  was  no  hearse.     Pallbearers 


IN  THE  PROVINCES.  47 

5 

carried  the  casket  clear  out  to  the  hillside  cemetery.  The 
road  was  very  pretty,  winding  through  graceful  cocoanut 
groves  up  the  mountain  side,  and  in  a  cocoanut  grove  rich 
in  flowers  and  ferns,  the  deceased  was  laid  to  rest  beside  his 
fathers. 

My  work  of  organizing  agricultural  societies  takes  me  into 
some  strange  and  historic  places.  Over  at  Cavite,  across 
the  bay,  the  old  hulks  of  the  Spanish  ships  that  Dewey 
pounded  to  pieces  can  still  be  seen.  Cavite  is  also  the  home 
of  Aguinaldo.  He  is  a  big  farmer  there,  and  could  have  had 
the  Presidency  of  the  provincial  agricultural  society  we  or- 
ganized there,  but  declined  it.  I  guess  his  experience  in  try- 
ing to  hold  down  one  ''Presidency"  was  enough  for  him.  At 
least  he  is  taking  no  active  part  in  political  affairs  in  the 
Philippines  now,  but  is  just  a  big  farmer  giving  all  his  at- 
tention to  peaceful  business  and  making  money,  so  I  am 
told.  However,  Baldomero  Aguinaldo,  a  cousin  of  the  ex- 
President,  was  made  President  of  our  agricultural  society, 
and  Emilio  Aguinaldo  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Insular 
Rice  Council,  which  position  he  consented  to  accept.  He  is 
leading  a  very  quiet  life  compared  with  the  stormy  times  he 
has  had  in  time  past. 

There  is  some  wonderfully  fine  timber  in  the  Islands,  hard 
woods,  that  make  excellent  furniture.  One  of  the  prettiest 
and  most  common  woods  is  the  nara,  especially  the  red 
nara.  It  takes  on  a  polish  that  is  beautiful.  Down  at  Iwahig, 
the  penal  colony  on  the  island  of  Palawan,  I  saw  a  section  of 
a  tree  cut  near  the  base.  It  was  circular,  the  entire  diam- 
eter of  the  tree,  and  probably  a  foot  in  thickness.  I  stood 
beside  it  and  it  was  fully  six  inches  higher  than  my  head, 
and  I  could  not  reach  across  it  the  other  way  by  extending 
my  arms  to  the  limit.  What  a  table  top  that  section  of  a 
tree  would  make,  a  circular  top  nearly  seven  feet  in  diam- 


48  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

eter,  all  one  solid  piece  of  red  nara,  capable  of  taking  a 
polish  like  a  looking-glass.  I  would  like  to  have  that  chunk 
of  wood  back  home. 

Taal  volcano  is  another  interesting  place  I  visited  It  is 
not  an  old  wornout  volcano,  although  it  has  blown  its  head 
off  until  it  is  not  much  of  a  mountain  any  more.  It  was 
active  no  longer  ago  than  1912,  when  it  killed  1,400  people. 
It  didn't  show  any  signs  of  activity  when  I  was  there  or  I 
wouldn't  have  visited  it.  I  don't  care  much  for  volcanoes 
in  eruption.  It  stands  out  in  the  middle  of  a  lake,  a  low, 
barren  mound,  but  when  it  acted  up  the  last  time  the  flames 
could  be  plainly  seen  in  Manila  nearly  a  hundred  miles  away, 
and  it  deposited  ashes  four  inches  deep  away  over  at  Santa 
Cruz.  The  town  of  Taal  is  reached  by  automobile  in  a  beau- 
tiful drive  from  Batangas.  We  climbed  the  old  church  tower 
at  Taal  and  had  a  good  view  of  the  lake  and  volcano.  That's 
as  close  as  I  cared  to  get  to  the  thing.  I'm  not  strong  for 
this  volcano  business  anyway. 

These  islands  are  only  a  speck  on  the  map,  but  in  sailing 
around  them  and  in  traveling  over  them  their  magnitude  in- 
creases wonderfully.  It  is  over  one  thousand  miles  from  the 
Batanes  on  the  north  to  the  Sulu  group  on  the  south.  The 
islands  are  scattered  everywhere,  and  in  sailing  from  port  to 
port  you  are  seldom  out  of  sight  of  land  somewhere,  as  the 
islands  are  all  mountainous  and  are  visible  for  a  long  dis- 
tance. At  close  range  the  islands  are  beautiful,  clad  in  green 
verdure  to  the  mountain  tops.  The  shore  is  usually  bordered 
with  a  strip  of  white  coral  sand,  fringed  with  graceful,  slender 
cocoanut,  rice  and  sugar  plantations  gradually  rising  to  the 
green  mountains.  Sailing  along  over  a  smooth  sea,  the  sight 
is  beautiful.  On  a  rough  sea  you  somehow  lose  interest  in 
the  beauties  of  nature.     I  have  had  both  experiences. 

I  attended  a  native  ball  given  in  my  honor  at  Dumaguete 


IN  THE  PROVINCES.  49 

The  great  Filipino  dance  is  the  rigodon,  a  stately  dance  not 
exactly  like  the  Virginia  reel,  but  on  that  order.  They 
also  waltz  and  two-step,  but  few  of  them  do  the  tango  or  the 
turkey  trot,  but  Americans  are  showing  them  how,  and  as 
they  are  apt  scholars  it  will  not  be  long  before  they  will 
desert  the  stately  rigodon  and  will  learn  to  "wiggle"  like 
white  folks. 

Another  thing  I  have  learned.  That  is,  not  to  talk  to 
the  Filipino  who  is  driving  the  automobile.  He  talks  too 
much  with  his  hands.  When  the  driver  one  day  took  both 
hands  off  the  wheel  to  more  forcibly  illustrate  his  talk,  I 
concluded  it  would  be  better  to  cut  out  the  conversation  after 
that.  No  FiHpino  or  Spaniard  can  talk  without  waving  his 
arms  and  humping  his  shoulders,  and  it's  rather  awkward 
when  a  driver  acts  up  that  way  going  forty  miles  an  hour. 

Down  at  Naga,  Ambos  Camarines,  we  stopped  with  the 
Governor.  One  of  the  Governor's  guests  while  we  were 
there,  a  big,  fat,  black,  bald  Filipino,  who  admitted  that  he 
was  fond  of  booze  (a  rare  specimen  in  this  country),  was  one 
of  the  best  singers  I  ever  heard  in  my  life.  He  had  a  splendid 
voice,  clear  as  a  bell,  and  he  didn't  sing  little  native  chants 
nor  American  ''Blue  Bell"  stuff,  but  regular  high  brow 
music.  Where  he  learned  it  I  do  not  know,  but  it  was  a 
pleasure  to  Hsten  to  him.  He  admitted  himself  that  if  he 
hadn't  drunk  so  much  booze  and  lost  two  or  three  front 
teeth  he  would  have  been  quite  a  singer.  He  was  anyway. 
He  sang  song  after  song,  the  Governor  accompanying  him  on 
a  guitar.  I  called  him  the  "Caruso  of  the  Camarines,"  and 
it  tickled  him  nearly  to  death.  He  knew  of  Caruso  and  all 
the  other  big  warblers. 

It  was  here  that  I  also  met  another  Waterloo.  We  had 
to  wait  a  full  day  for  transportation  back  to  Albay,  and 
time  hung  heavily  on  my  hands,  as  all  the  conversation  was 


50  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

in  Spanish  or  Bicol,  in  which  I  could  not  take  part.  In  my 
room  hung  an  old  violin.  It  was  all  out  of  tune,  and  I  got 
to  fooling  with  it  just  to  amuse  myself.  The  Governor  as- 
sured me  through  an  interpreter  that  nobody  in  the  house 
could  play  the  instrument,  so  I  sawed  off  two  or  three  squeaky 
tunes  by  main  strength  and  awkwardness,  which  is  the  only 
way  I  know  how.  The  Governor  seemed  greatly  pleased  and 
volunteered  to  accompany  me  on  the  guitar,  as  a  further  in- 
ducement for  me  to  make  a  monkey  of  myself,  and  I  fell  for 
it.  When  I  was  tired  of  wrestling  with  the  violin  the  Gov- 
ernor took  it  and  at  the  first  stroke  of  the  bow  I  knew  I  was 
up  against  it,  and  felt  like  falUng  out  of  the  window.  It 
didn't  sound  hke  the  same  violin.  He  played  beautifully, 
and  again  I  readjusted  my  viewpoint  of  the  Fihpino.  He  can 
He  as  gracefully  as  any  white  man. 

And  that  evening  we  went  over  to  another  home  and  lis- 
tened to  a  Fihpino  lady  sing  operatic  music.  Her  young 
daughter  played  the  difficult  accompaniment  on  the  piano. 
It  was  a  fine  home,  and  while  the  lady  sang  I  could  close  my 
eyes,  lean  back  in  the  comfortable  chair  and  imagine  myself 
back  in  any  well-to-do  home  in  America.  But  the  eyes  had 
to  be  closed  or  the  illusion  vanished.  A  lizard  on  the  wall 
scooted  along  and  barked  playfully  at  the  four  or  five  other 
lizards  which  were  scattered  over  the  walls  and  ceihng. 
When  I  put  on  my  hat  and  nearly  fell  down  the  steep  steps 
to  the  street  below,  stumbled  over  a  pig  on  the  front  door 
step  and  fought  off  the  dogs  down  the  dark  narrow  street 
leading  to  the  main  street  where  the  coal  oil  lamps  shed  a 
sickly  gleam  in  the  intense  tropic  darkness,  and  gradually 
wended  my  way  back  to  the  Governor's  "mansion,"  the  il- 
lusion had  vanished.  I  wasn't  back  in  Kansas,  I  felt  sure 
about  that. 

This  is  but  a  wandering  jumble  of  varied  impressions 


IN  THE  PROVINCES.  51 

given  offhand  as  they  come  to  mind.  They  have  no  se- 
quence, and  as  the  old  popuHst  said  about  the  railroad,  they 
**have  no  termini  at  airy  end,"  so  I  can  stop  without  in  any 
way  spoiling  the  trend  of  the  story.  There  are  bushels  more 
of  the  same  sort  of  dope.  I  am  as  full  of  ^'impressions"  as  a 
dog  is  of  fleas.  The  town  of  Manila  now  has  the  greatest 
flood  in  her  history.  Fully  three-fourths  of  the  city  is  under 
water  at  present  writing,  and  it's  still  raining.  With  this 
condition  back  in  Kansas,  we  would  feel  sure  that  the  corn 
crop  was  saved.  Out  here  all  this  water  is  a  regular  nui- 
sance and  is  going  to  waste.  "There  ought  to  be  a  law  agin 
it." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

PAGSANJAN  GORGE. 

Manila,  November  29,  1914. 

The  environs  of  Manila  offer  some  of  the  finest  trips  by 
automobile,  launch  or  rail  to  be  found  in  the  Far  East,  so 
experienced  travelers  tell  me.  Some  of  the  places  easily 
reached  even  by  motor  cars  are  Antipolo,  Montalban  Gorge, 
Los  Banos,  Fort  McKinley,  Ruins  of  Guadalupe,  Sibul 
Springs,  Atimonan,  Taal  volcano,  Baguio,  and  Pagsanjan 
Gorge  and  rapids.  The  trip  to  the  latter  place,  especially 
the  journey  through  Pagsanjan  Gorge  in  a  native  canoe 
called  a  banca,  is  a  delightful,  picturesque,  and  exciting  trip. 

The  town  of  Pagsanjan  is  only  about  four  hours  from  Ma- 
nila by  rail.  It  can  also  be  reached  by  boat.  It  is  the  start- 
ing place  for  the  trip  up  the  river  through  the  rapids  to  the 
falls.  Last  Saturday  a  party  of  fourteen  of  us,  including  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Smolt,  relatives  of  Dr.  Smolt,  of  Newton,  arranged 
a  little  outing  that  is  typical  of  the  many  pleasant  ones  we 
are  having  over  here.  I  will  tell  you  about  it.  We  leased 
a  little  steam  launch  in  which  we  made  the  trip  from  Ma- 
nila to  Pagsanjan.  The  launch  was  big  enough  to  accommo- 
date our  entire  party  easily.  We  had  plenty  of  ''chow"  on 
board  and  an  ice  box  for  the  pop,  ginger  ale,  etc.  (The 
"etc."  represents  the  part  eliminated  by  the  censor.) 

We  left  late  in  the  afternoon  and  steamed  up  the  winding 
Pasig  River  and  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  shifting  scene,  then 
out  onto  Laguna  de  Bay  (Lake  of  the  bay),  then  headed 
directly  across  the  bay  for  Pagsanjan.  Laguna  de  Bay  is  a 
big  body  of  shallow  water  connected  with  Manila  Bay  by  the 

(52) 


PAGSANJAN  GORGE.  53 

Pasig  River,  and  was  probably  at  one  time  a  part  of  Manila 
Bay.  It  was  dark  soon  after  we  got  out  onto  the  bay.  The 
water  was  quiet,  and  when  the  moon  rose  the  scene  was 
beautiful,  as  the  moon  was  full,  and  there  is  nothing  quite 
so  pretty  as  a  full  moon  in  the  Tropics.  The  brilliant  moon- 
light touched  every  little  wave  with  gold  and  outUned  the 
mountains  in  a  faint  yellow  glow.  The  women  grouped  up 
on  the  bow  and  sang  songs,  and  the  men,  as  is  their  custom, 
sat  back  amidship  and  smoked  and  told  stories.  Talk  about 
a  "joy  ride"  in  an  auto ;  it  isn't  in  it  with  a  launch  on  a  lake 
on  a  pretty  night  in  the  Tropics. 

We  reached  Pagsanjan  about  midnight,  making  about  six 
hours  steady  run  from  Manila.  Hotel  accommodations  in 
the  little  town  were  limited,  so  the  women  were  all  safely 
housed  at  the  hotel  and  the  men  slept  on  the  boat,  or  at 
least  tried  to  sleep.  (This  part  of  the  outing  wasn't  very 
funny.)  The  mosquitos  bit  like  blazes,  and  there  was  a 
shower  during  the  night,  which  didn't  add  anything  to  the 
comfort  of  the  party  on  the  boat.  I  had  a  cheap  cotton 
quilt  for  covering,  and  the  rain  started  the  colors  of  the 
cloth.  By  morning  I  was  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  big 
blotches  of  red  and  blue.  I  remember  my  neck  was  a  par- 
ticularly brilliant  red,  while  my  chin  was  navy  blue.  Some 
of  the  other  fellows  were  in  the  same  fix,  so  that  we  resem- 
bled a  bunch  of  Indians  in  full  war  paint.  The  women  came 
back  to  the  boat  and  we  had  a  good  meal  on  board,  then 
went  ashore  and  ''took  in  the  town."  It  is  a  rather  pretty 
httle  place.  When  we  got  back  to  the  launch  it  was  sur- 
rounded by  bancas,  the  paddlers  anxious  to  take  us  up  the 
river  through  the  rapids  to  the  big  falls.  It  was  a  great  trip. 
Only  one  passenger  is  allowed  in  each  banca,  in  which  are 
two  natives,  one  at  each  end  with  a  paddle.  They  are  ex- 
pert oarsmen  or  we  would  never  have  been  able  to  go  up  the 


54  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

rapids.  We  made  quite  a  procession  as  we  started  out  up 
the  broad,  quiet  river,  the  canoes  strung  out  in  a  long  line. 
But  soon  the  river  became  narrower  and  the  waters  swifter, 
and  then  the  excitement  began.  Those  native  paddlers  actu- 
ally shot  the  canoes  up  rapids  you  would  have  declared  a 
boat  could  not  possibly  have  gone.  Finally  the  rush  of 
water  was  too  great,  and  at  certain  places  the  boatmen  would 
get  out  into  the  swirling  flood  nearly  waist  deep  and  haul 
the  bancas  around  the  worst  places  by  keeping  in  close  to 
the  shore,  one  pushing,  the  other  pulling.  At  one  place  each 
passenger  had  to  leave  his  canoe  and  clamber  across  a  cleft 
in  the  rocks,  in  which  a  native  assisted  by  making  a  bridge 
out  of  himself  by  bracing  himself  against  the  walls  and  per- 
mitting the  passengers  to  step  on  his  bare  back.  He  sagged 
down  when  my  turn  came  to  step  on  him,  but  held  fast. 

It  was  a  fight  nearly  all  the  way  up  to  the  falls,  a  full  hour 
and  a  half  of  excitement.  Such  scenery  as  there  is  in  Pagsan- 
jan  Gorge  I  never  saw  before.  Perpendicular  walls  probably 
500  feet  high  on  either  side,  draped  with  fantastic  festoons 
of  beautiful  tropic  vegetation,  little  waterfalls  shooting 
straight  down  from  the  very  top.  In  some  places  these 
little  streams  tumbled  down  to  the  river,  starting  like  a  rope 
hanging  down  the  side,  then  breaking  into  huge  drops,  and 
these  in  turn  becoming  mist  before  they  reached  the  river. 
It  is  hard  to  describe  it.  The  w^ord  beautiful  is  inadequate. 
I  would  have  enjoyed  it  more  full  if  I  hadn't  used  so  much  of 
my  time  watching  the  boatmen,  expecting  every  minute  that 
we  would  upset. 

After  a  rest  at  the  big  falls,  beyond  which  one  cannot  go 
during  the  rainy  season,  we  started  back  down,  and  believe 
me,  that's  when  really  traveled.  No  pushing  around  the 
rapids  now,  but  right  out  in  mid  stream,  and  as  the  Vir- 
ginian told  the  tenderfoot  in  Owen  Wister's  book,  I  was  just 


PAGSANJAN  GORGE.  65 

between  ^'Oh  Lord''  and  ''Thank  God"  until  we  got  down  to 
the  level,  quiet  water,  which  didn't  take  long,  but  was  full  of 
thrills  while  it  lasted.  If  a  wave  of  water  laps  over  and 
dumps  as  much  as  a  couple  of  bucketfuls  right  in  your  lap 
there  is  nothing  to  do  but  sputter  and  try  to  look  pleasant, 
for  you  are  sitting  flat  in  the  bottom  of  the  frail  banca,  and 
fussing  around  would  probably  mean  a  plunge  out  among 
the  rocks  and  rapids.  I  preferred  to  sit  tight  as  I  knew 
how.  I  learned  after  I  made  the  trip  that  the  proper  cos- 
tume is  a  bathing  suit,  but  nobody  thought  to  tell  us  about 
it  in  advance.  One  banca  in  our  party  upset  and  spilled  a 
lady  out  and  scared  her  badly.  The  water  was  deep  where 
the  accident  occurred,  and  she  was  whirled  over  next  to  the 
steep  canyon  wall,  at  which  she  clutched  many  times  in  vain, 
but  the  other  boatmen  soon  had  another  banca  alongside 
and  hauled  her  in,  badly  scared  and  well  drenched,  but  other- 
wise little  the  worse  for  the  experience. 

We  all  got  back  to  the  launch  safely,  had  another  big 
feed,  then  steamed  down  the  river  and  out  into  the  bay, 
homeward  bound.  The  changing,  green,  cloud-crowned 
mountains  were  beautiful,  and  as  evening  came  on  and  the 
sun  sank,  the  clouds  took  on  their  gorgeous  tints,  shading 
and  blending  all  the  colors  of  the  rainbow,  then  came  the 
quick,  inky  darkness  that  comes  apparently  all  at  once. 
Soon  the  red  light  glared  at  the  entrance  to  the  Pasig  River, 
and  we  steamed  in  past  Fort  McKinley  and  on  down  to 
Manila  with  her  myriad  twinkhng  Hghts,  back  to  our  home 
at  the  Dehnonico  Hotel  in  the  Walled  City  by  8 :  30  in  the 
evening. 

And  that  whole  twenty-four-hour  run  of  the  launch,  Ma- 
nila to  Pagsanjan  and  return,  including  ice,  pop,  etc.,  cost 
us  only  $1.25  for  each  member  of  the  party.  It  costs  $1.50 
each  for  the  banca  ride  up  the  river,  and  it  is  well  worth  it ; 


56  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

but  that  steamer  ride  was  the  cheapest  trip  I  ever  heard 
tell  of.  There  are  many  interesting  little  side  trips  out  from 
Manila,  but  the  trip  to  Pagsanjan  Gorge  by  way  of  the 
Pasig  River  and  Laguna  de  Bay  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
that  we  have  made  as  yet. 


CHAPTER  X. 

CHRISTMAS  WEEK. 

Manila,  December  30,  1914. 

Old  1914  is  about  ready  for  the  discard,  and  if  I  am  to 
get  another  letter  off  this  year  I  must  get  busy.  This  is 
Christmas  week,  a  great  holiday  or  ^'fiesta"  time,  especially 
in  the  Philippines  where  there  is  a  holiday  upon  every  pos- 
sible pretext.  One  of  the  novel  and  pretty  sights  here  this 
week  is  the  big  electric  Christmas  tree  on  the  Luneta,  the 
popular  public  park.  This  tree  was  erected  by  the  electric 
light  company  as  its  contribution  to  the  week's  festivities. 
A  big  pole  nearly  fifty  feet  high  was  implanted  in  the  park, 
then  huge  branches  of  bamboo  were  fastened  to  this  pole 
until  it  resembled  a  great  feathery  tree.  Then  the  whole 
tree  was  decorated  with  thousands  of  little  electric  bulbs  of 
all  colors,  red,  blue,  green,  yellow  and  white.  When  dark- 
ness came  each  night  and  the  electric  current  was  turned  on, 
the  big,  sparkling  tree  appeared  wonderfully  beautiful.  It 
was  lighted  up  every  night  during  Christmas  week,  and  was 
admired  by  thousands. 

Yesterday  was  Rizal  day  in  the  Philippines.  Ever  hear 
of  Rizal?  Probably  not.  Well,  he  is  the  George  Washing- 
ton of  the  PhiUppines,  and  their  popular  hero.  Dr.  Jose 
Rizal  was  a  doctor,  student,  traveler,  author  and  patriot. 
He  became  rather  too  much  of  a  patriot  during  Spanish 
times,  and  as  a  result  he  was  taken  out  to  the  Luneta  and 
shot,  thereby  becoming  a  martyr  to  the  cause  of  freedom. 
A  handsome  monument  now  marks  the  spot  on  the  Luneta 
where  the  execution  took  place,  and  RizaFs  memory  is  cher- 

(57) 


58  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

ished.  Result:  Rizal  cigarettes,  Rizal  cigars,  Rizal  beer, 
Rizal  soap,  and  Rizal  brands  of  most  everything  else  designed 
for  Philippine  consumption.  There  is  hardly  a  home  in  the 
Philippines  so  humble  that  it  does  not  contain  a  picture  of 
the  great  patriot.  The  big  parade  this  week  in  honor  of 
Rizal  was  reviewed  by  the  Governor-General.  There  were 
probably  10,000  people  in  the  line  of  march,  at  least  thirty 
brass  bands,  scores  of  handsomely  decorated  floats,  carriages 
and  autos.  There  was  a  profusion  of  flags,  much  speech- 
making,  and  a  regular  old  ^'Fourth  of  July'^  of  a  time  in  the 
middle  of  Christmas  weeks. 

The  climate  is  ideal  now,  but  in  no  way  resembles  the 
Christmas  season  at  home.  Flowers  are  in  full  bloom,  birds 
are  singing,  everything  is  fresh,  green  and  bright,  warm 
pleasant  days  and  cool  nights.  It  is  all  that  could  be  well 
desired  in  the  way  of  a  pleasant  place  to  live  at  this  season 
of  the  year.  The  Philippines  may  aptly  be  termed  a  land 
where  the  days  are  always  warm  but  seldom  hot,  and  where 
the  nights  are  always  cool  but  never  cold.  It  is  the  same- 
ness of  temperature  that  is  so  remarkable.  To  a  Kansan 
with  a  system  adjusted  to  sudden  changes  of  from  thirty  to 
fifty  degrees  of  temperature,  this  steady,  mild  chmate  seems 
all  but  impossible,  yet  is  true.  There  is  a  variation  of  about 
twenty  degrees  between  maximum  and  minimum.  The  daily 
reports  show  that  the  highest  temperature  seldom  goes  above 
88  degrees,  and  at  night  seldom  goes  below  68  to  70  degrees, 
but  usually  there  is  a  nice  breeze  at  night.  And  this  record 
goes  on  day  after  day,  never  hot,  never  cold,  just  warm. 
Of  course  we  are  now  having  our  "winter"  weather,  and  at 
night  the  thermometer  has  registered  as  low  as  65  degrees, 
but  that  is  the  coldest  weather  we  have  experienced  since 
our  arrival. 

And  a  word  about  the  wind.     I  just  can't  get  used  to  it. 


CHRISTMAS  V/EEK.  59 

The  wind  here  is  the  balmiest,  fluffiest,  feathery  breeze  I 
ever  felt.  It  gets  gusty  enough  when  a  typhoon  is  near,  but 
even  then  it  doesn't  take  hold  of  you  and  slam  you  around 
like  a  good  old  Kansas  ''zephyr."  More  than  that,  there  is 
no  sand  in  this  tropic  breeze,  at  least  not  during  the  rainy 
season.  I  am  used  to  a  whacking  old  wind  filled  with  plenty 
of  sand  and  occasionally  a  little  gravel,  so  this  puffy,  fluffy, 
moisture-laden  tropic  wind  isn't  at  all  satisfying.  I  take 
my  lungs  full  of  it  and  don't  seem  to  have  anything.  It 
isn't  satisfying,  and  yet  there  seems  to  be  enough  of  it.  The 
first  gale  I  ventured  out  in  broke  two  of  the  ribs  of  my  um- 
brella the  moment  I  hoisted  it,  and  then  turned  it  wrongside 
out.  But  there  is  something  wrong  with  this  wind.  I  guess 
t's  the  lack  of  the  sand. 

One  queer  thing  about  the  Islands  is  the  lack  of  flies. 
There  are  a  few  mosquitos,  mostly  little  sneaking  black  fel- 
lows that  nip  you  and  get  away,  but  there  are  practically 
no  pests  of  flies  like  we  have  during  the  summer  season  at 
home.  I  can't  see  why.  The  weather  is  warm  the  year 
round.  To  say  the  least,  sanitary  conditions  are  no  better 
here  than  in  the  average  Amercian  community,  yet  there  are 
no  great  swarms  of  flies.  A  few  flies  are  buzzing  around  now, 
and  there  are  a  few  all  the  year  round,  fully  enough  of  them 
to  start  a  big  crop,  but  somehow  they  do  not  flourish  any- 
where I  have  been  in  the  Islands,  and  it  is  a  fine  thing  that 
they  do  not.  Some  say  it  is  because  the  ants  are  so  nu- 
merous that  they  eat  nearly  all  the  eggs  of  the  fly.  There  may 
be  something  in  that  theory.  There  are  enough  ants  here 
to  do  the  job,  no  question  about  that.  People  say  they  can 
spot  a  tenderfoot  in  this  country  right  away  because  he 
always  tries  to  pick  the  ants  out  of  his  soup. 

When  I  first  came  over  here,  everything  was  so  new  and 
strange  that  when  I  started  in  to  write  I  never  knew  when  to 


60  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

stop.  After  being  here  several  months  one  learns  to  accept 
things  as  they  are,  and  they  cease  to  be  odd.  At  first  it 
seemed  strange  to  see  nearly  all  the  draying  and  heavy  trans- 
fer work  of  Manila  done  in  two-wheeled  carts  drawn  by  car- 
abaos,  the  native  water  buffalos,  which  are  the  main  de- 
pendence for  work  animals.  Now  the  sight  has  grown  so 
usual  that  when  I  see  a  two-horse  team  and  wagon  (usually 
an  army  outfit)  I  stop  and  take  a  second  look  at  it  because 
the  sight  is  odd  and  unusual. 

I  don't  know  what  the  FiHpinos  would  do  without  the 
carabaos.  They  are  big,  patient,  slow-traveling  beasts  with 
monstrous  horns.  They  have  more  intelligence  than  you 
would  give  them  credit  for  at  first  sight.  Their  slow  gait 
suits  the  FiUpino  all  right,  for  nobody  ever  gets  in  a  very 
great  hurry  over  here.  The  other  day  I  saw  a  big  cart  load 
of  merchandise  drawn  by  a  carabao.  The  Filipino  driver 
was  sitting  up  on  top  of  the  big  load  of  boxes,  sound  asleep. 
That  old  carabao  was  threading  its  way  down  the  busy  thor- 
oughfare past  carts,  motor  cars,  street  cars,  and  street  rigs, 
as  carefully  as  though  the  driver  had  been  awake.  I  don't 
know  how  long  the  driver  slept,  but  I  presume  he  continued 
his  ''siesta"  until  the  carabao  backed  the  cart  up  to  the 
proper  warehouse  and  then  kicked  the  cart  until  the  driver 
awoke.  Of  course  that's  only  supposition;  but  the  driver 
was  perched  up  there  sound  asleep  the  last  time  I  saw  him. 

They  guide  the  carabao  by  a  ring  in  the  animal's  nose  to 
which  a  rope  is  attached  that  extends  back  to  the  driver. 
A  wooden  yoke  over  the  carabao's  neck  serves  in  place  of  a 
collar.  Carabaos  are  usually  quite  gentle  when  handled  by 
a  Fihpino.  Even  little  Filipino  youngsters  handle  the  big 
brutes  with  ease ;  but  carabaos  don't  like  a  white  man.  I 
had  been  told  this  before,  but  I  found  it  out  on  my  own 
account  one  day  recently  while  out  snipe_shooting  with 


CHRISTMAS  WEEK.  61 

Harry  Campbell,  a  former  Wichita  boy.  We  crossed  a  fence 
into  a  field  in  which  there  was  a  carabao.  Campbell  was  in 
the  lead.  The  animal  stuck  out  its  neck,  elevated  its  nose 
and  didn't  act  just  right  to  me,  so  I  thought  I  would  wait  and 
see  what  happened.  I  didn't  have  long  to  wait,  for  he 
charged  at  once,  and  ran  Campbell  out  of  the  field  and  into 
the  rice  paddies.  A  carabao  doesn't  like  a  white  man,  and 
he  is  not  a  slow  mover,  except  from  choice.  I  found  out  that 
much  that  one  morning. 

This  is  certainly  a  wonderful  country  for  good  roads. 
The  Americans  will  at  least  leave  a  lasting  monument  to 
their  occupation  of  these  Islands  in  the  splendid  highways 
built  here  during  the  last  few  years.  Where  there  are  any 
roads  at  all  they  are  good  roads.  It's  good  roads  or  nothing, 
especially  in  the  rainy  season.  Automobiles  do  not  stop  for 
rain  in  this  country.  The  roads  are  of  rock  base  with  gravel 
surface.  The  water  runs  off  quickly  and  cars  go  right  ahead, 
rain  or  shine,  and  during  a  part  of  the  rainy  season  there's 
fully  as  much  rain  as  shine.  Good  roads  are  not  confined  to 
the  island  of  Luzon.  There  are  good  roads  in  nearly  all  of 
the  islands.  Down  on  the  island  of  Panay,  from  Iloilo  to 
Capiz,  is  one  of  the  prettiest  roads  I  have  seen.  It  stretches 
across  the  country  like  a  winding  ribbon,  its  sides  bordered 
with  brilliant,  close-cropped  red  top,  which  joins  the  dark 
green  grass  or  rice  fields  along  the  way. 

I  haven't  traveled  much  during  the  past  three  months. 
I  have  spent  most  of  my  time  in  my  office  in  the  Bureau  of 
Agriculture,  carrying  on  the  work  of  municipal  organization 
and  other  duties  as  superintendent,  by  correspondence.  My 
first  work  of  organizing  agricultural  societies  commenced  in 
July.  Since  that  time  the  organization  has  grown  from 
nothing  up  to  a  total  of  twenty-two  provincial  agricultural 
societies,  and  200  municipal  societies,  with  a  total  member- 


62  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

ship  of  over  15,000  farmers,  extending  over  the  greater  part 
of  the  Islands,  which  to  me  seems  hke  a  fair  record  at  or- 
ganization for  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  who  didn't  un- 
derstand the  language,  manners,  or  thought  of  the  people 
with  whom  he  labored.  Every  week  my  office  compiles  a 
list  of  market  quotations  of  leading  farm  products,  such  as 
hemp,  copra,  rice,  sugar,  tobacco,  etc.,  and  we  mail  this  as 
a  market  report  to  all  of  our  societies,  thus  keeping  them  in 
touch  with  Manila  prices.  This  might  not  seem  much  of  a 
service  to  the  Kansas  farmer  who  gets  his  market  quotations 
in  his  daily  paper  every  morning ;  but  Kansas  isn't  the  Phil- 
ippines, not  by  a  long  way.  The  isolated  farmers  in  the  far- 
away provinces  and  islands  await  my  weekly  market  letter 
with  much  interest,  and  say  that  it  is  a  big  help.  Beginning 
the  first  of  the  year  I  expect  to  pubhsh  a  practical  farm 
paper,  which  will  be  sent  to  all  members  of  the  society. 

It  is  pleasing  to  note  the  manner  in  which  the  government 
here  meets  conditions  as  they  arise.  The  war  caused  a 
sharp  advance  in  the  price  of  all  food  products.  Shrewd 
firms  saw  a  chance  to  still  further  advance  prices  and  take 
corresponding  profits,  but  they  didn't  get  very  far  with  it. 
The  Governor-General  and  Vice-Governor  Martin  at  once 
got  busy  and  gave  out  the  information  that  if  any  attempt 
was  made  to  comer  the  market  on  rice,  flour,  milk,  and  other 
necessities,  the  whole  resources  of  the  government  would  be 
brought  into  play  in  order  to  check  it.  The  army  also  had 
a  big  lot  of  supplies  on  hand.  These  could  also  have  been 
placed  on  the  market  at  fair  and  reasonable  prices  in  a 
crisis.  The  government  threatened  to  go  into  the  open  mar- 
ket and  buy  necessities  in  the  food  line  and  sell  them  at  cost, 
rather  than  see  the  people  robbed.  This  had  the  desired 
effect.  Prices  advanced,  as  was  naturally  to  be  expected, 
but  they  didn't  soar.     There  was  no  corner,  no   holdup, 


CHRISTMAS  WEEK.  63 

thanks  to  the  prompt  and  firm  stand  taken  by  the  govern- 
ment. 

Well,  here's  the  season's  greetings  to  all  at  the  old  home. 
Christmas  is  always  a  happy  time,  and  we  miss  the  home 
associations  very  much  indeed.  I  like  the  climate,  but  I 
long  for  a  good  frosty  day  in  the  duck  blinds  out  on  the 
Arkansas  River,  and  I  wouldn't  mind  feeling  a  black  bass  or 
a  channel-cat  pull  on  the  line,  and  I  would  give  half  a  month's 
salary  just  to  ride  on  the  interurban  from  Newton  down 
through  Sedgwick  to  Wichita.  But  you  can't  have  your 
cake  and  eat  it  too,  so  I  will  have  to  stick  here  until  I  get 
either  tired  or  fired,  and  as  neither  has  happened  yet  I  am 
still  on  the  job,  feeling  fine  and  am  "just  as  happy  as  a  big 
sunflower,"  etc. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  SLOGAN  CONTEST. 

Manila,  June  10,  1915. 

There  has  been  a  regular  "tempest  in  a  teapot ^^  here  in 
Manila  of  late.  It  all  came  about  on  account  of  the  slogan 
contest,  and  may  be  worth  the  telling,  just  to  show  the  way 
they  do  things  over  here.  To  begin  with,  one  of  the  big 
moving-picture  corporations  of  the  United  States  that  re- 
cently established  a  branch  office  in  Manila,  through  its 
local  manager  submitted  to  the  city  of  Manila  the  proposi- 
tion that  if  Manila  would  furnish  some  appropriate  slogan 
for  Manila  or  the  Philippine  Islands,  said  company  would 
run  the  slogan  on  all  its  films  free  of  cost,  thus  advertising 
Manila  in  every  play-house  using  this  company's  films.  It 
looked  hke  a  pretty  good  offer,  didn't  cost  anything,  and 
Manila  jumped  at  the  chance. 

In  order  to  secure  a  good,  catchy  slogan,  one  that  would 
be  of  real  benefit  to  the  town  and  secure  all  the  results  pos- 
sible from  this  generous  offer,  a  slogan  contest  was  arranged. 
The  Manila  Ad.  Club  promptly  subscribed  twenty-five  pesos 
toward  a  prize,  and  later  the  various  business  organizations 
of  the  city  backed  the  enterprise,  selected  a  committee  with 
authority  to  make  all  the  necessary  arrangements.  This 
committee  offered  a  cash  prize  of  one  hundred  pesos  for  the 
winning  slogan,  and  the  representative  of  the  picture  com- 
pany added  a  year's  pass  to  a  local  theater  as  a  further  in- 
ducement. The  local  newspapers  were  designated  to  give 
the  contest  all  possible  publicity  and  to  receive  all  slogans, 
and  eventually  to  pick  the  winner. 

(64) 


THE  SLOGAN  CONTEST.  65 

The  contest  excited  much  interest,  as  is  shown  from  the 
fact  that  nearly  10,000  slogans  were  submitted  to  the  com- 
mittee, and  their  task  of  naming  the  winning  slogan  was  no 
easy  matter.  There  were  seven  judges,  representatives  of 
the  leading  Manila  newspapers  and  commercial  organizations- 
This  committee  held  several  sessions,  and  finally  each  judge 
presented  a  list  of  twenty-five  from  the  entire  lot,  and  it  was 
from  this  Hst  of  175  that  the  final  selection  was  made  behind 
closed  doors  at  the  final  session.  By  a  process  of  elimina- 
tion these  were  reduced  to  six.  On  these  six  the  committee 
took  a  final  and  deciding  ballot,  and  my  slogan,  ^'Manila — 
Where  Nothing  Knocks  but  Opportunity/'  was  awarded  the 
prize  by  a  close  margin.  The  name  of  the  winner  was  not 
known  until  after  the  selection  had  been  made,  when  the 
name  was  drawn  from  a  sealed  envelope  corresponding  by 
number  with  the  one  which  contained  the  slogan,  so  it  was 
fair  enough. 

For  a  time  I  felt  pretty  good  over  having  won  the  hundred 
pesos  and  the  year's  pass  to  one  of  the  leading  theaters. 
The  leading  papers  ran  the  slogan  in  big  type  across  front 
page.  The  very  first  day  one  firm  had  5,000  envelopes  printed, 
bearing  the  slogan  in  attractive  letters,  and  everybody 
boosted.  The  Manila  Evening  Times  published  the  follow- 
ing, editorially : 

THE  SLOGAN  AND  THE  AUTHOR. 

''Kansas  conquers!  It  is  part  of  the  eternal  fitness  of 
things  that  Mack  Cretcher,  the  man  Vice-Governor  Martin 
brought  over  here  to  organize  agricultural  cooperative  so- 
cieties, should  have  been  awarded  first  prize  in  the  contest 
for  the  production  of  a  slogan  to  be  flashed  on  every  screen 
in  the  United  States  which  shows  a  Universal  film.  As  thus : 
The  elongated  but  unperturbed  Mack,  since  his  arrival,  has 
been  pounded  to  a  pulp.  In  verses,  in  paragraphs,  in  news 
stories,  in  cartoons,  and  even  in  editorials,  he  has  been 


66  A  TENDERFOOT  IX  THE  TROPICS. 

lapped  to  a  syllabub,  beaten  to  a  frazzle,  slashed  to  ribbons, 
and  walloped  to  a  fare-ye-well.  The  noise  of  it  has  made  the 
Anvil  Chorus  sound  like  a  mother's  lullaby.  The  dust  of  it 
has  obscured  the  sun.  And  now  ^Mack  comes  back.  He 
wins  the  hundred-peso  prize  with  a  slogan ;  and  how  do  you 
think  the  slogan  nms?    This  way : 

'•  *  Manila — Where  Nothing  Knocks  but  Opportunity.' 
^'Nothing  knocks!  Do  you  get  that?  Isn't  that  a  come- 
back for  your  life?  On  how  many  heads  are  the  coals  of 
fire  warmly  reposing?  If  Mack  had  written:  "Manila — 
where  eveiy^body  knocks  when  opportunity  arises,"  there 
could  have  been  no  objection,  having  regard  to  his  experi- 
ence. But  Mack,  it  would  appear,  has  equipoise  as  well  as 
avoirdupois.    His  way  is  the  better  way." 

Other  papers  boosted  as  freely,  and  things  moved  along 
fine  for  a  few  days,  but  only  for  a  few  days.  Then  a  change 
came  over  the  spirit  of  Manila's  dreams,  and  the  anvil 
chorus,  running  true  to  form,  tuned  up.  Of  course  where 
there  are  thousands  of  contestants  and  only  one  winner  there 
is  liable  to  be  some  disappointment.  Some  of  the  losers  were 
not  good  losers,  and  soon  the  knockers  were  in  full  swing. 
The  slogan  was  an  abomination;  it  would  not  bring  the 
results  expected;  the  idea  was  stolen  bodily,  therefore  a 
second-hand  slogan  at  best ;  it  was  too  short ;  too  long ;  it 
was  slang ;  it  was  rotten ;  and  besides  that  the  darned  thing 
wasn't  any  good  an>^way.  That  was  the  burden  of  the  song 
of  the  disappointed,  but  I  sat  tight  and  said  nothing  while 
the  storm  pelted.  Only  one  voice  was  raised  in  my  behalf 
during  this  time.  Mr.  Xorbert  Lyons,  associate  editor  of 
the  Daily  Bulletin,  whose  slogan  received  only  one  less  vote 
than  mine,  came  out  with  a  gentlemanly  statement  in  which 
he  declared  that  the  attacks  were  imjust  and  unfair.  I  was 
ased  to  being  knocked,  and  criticism  didn't  bother  me  at  all, 
until  the  representative  of  the  film  company  who  started 


THE  SLOGAN  COSIEST.  6T 

the  contest,  and  who  was  one  of  the  judges  but  failed  to  be 
present  when  the  prize  was  awarded,  came  out  in  a  signed 
article  in  the  Times,  in  which  he  intimated  that  the  slogan 
might  not  do  all  that  was  expected  of  it,  and  if  such  was  the 
case  it  might  be  better  to  hold  another  contest.  That  got 
my  Irish  up  a  Uttle,  and  I  immediately  returned  his  annual 
pass,  with  the  following  note : 

'Enclosed  herewith  is  the  pass  to  the  Empire  Theater  is- 
sued to  me  as  winner  of  the  slogan  contest.  It  has  been  in 
my  possession  only  twenty-four  hour?,  and  in  view  of  your 
statement  in  last  night's  Times,  I  am  returning  it  to  you 
unused. 

**When  you  succeed  in  finding  some  one  who  can  con- 
dense a  history-  of  Mamla  and  the  Philippine  Islands  into  a 
SLX-word  slogan  that  will  bring  millions  to  Manila,  kindly 
turn  the  pass  over  to  him  with  my  compliments.'' 

I  also  publicly  offered  to  return  the  cash  prize  if  the  busi- 
ness associations  desired  to  put  on  a  new  contest,  and  prom- 
ised to  submit  another  slogan  more  appropriate,  '^Manila — 
Where  They  Knock  at  Every  Opparfumty."  That  se&ncd  to 
hold  them  for  a  while.  I  didn't  ^lect  the  slogan.  The 
judges  did  that.  I  had  about  twenty  other  slogans  in  the 
contest,  many  of  which  I  thought  were  at  least  as  appro- 
priate as  the  one  the  judges  decided  upon.  The  picture  man 
apologized  and  sent  the  pass  back,  and  told  me  to  do  what- 
ever I  pleased  with  it.  I  had  lost  interest  in  it,  and  in  the 
whole  unpleasant  contest  business  in  fact,  so  I  donated  the 
pass  to  the  orphans  of  the  American  Mestizo  Protectire  As- 
sociation. Commenting  upon  tlus  action,  the  CablenemS' 
American  J  a  morning  daily,  published  the  following : 

"Magnanimous  Mack  Cretcher,  modest  man  of  destiny, 
the  Grand  Old  Man  of  Kansas,  and  who  now  se^DS  ordained 
to  place  the  PhiHppines  in  the  limelight  of  world-wide  pub- 
licity, through  the  medium  of  his  much-slugged  sl<^an,  is 


68  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

again  to  the  forefront  with  an  offer  whichjwill  confound|his 
critics  and  make  more  manifest  to  his  growing  circle  of  ad- 
mirers the  large-heartedness  and  sincere  self-effacement  of 
this  silvery  slogan  slinger. 

"To  show  that  his  heart  is  in  the  right  place,  this  subtle 
superintendent  of  cooperative  organizations  (who  has  made 
manifest  his  talent  and  inclination  to  cooperate  with  boost 
organizations)  has  delivered  to  the  American  Mestizo  Pro- 
tective Association  the  annual  Empire  Theater  pass,  through 
its  representative,  J.  W.  Shearer,  with  instructions  to  make 
the  best  possible  use  of  it.  The  organization  is  now  devis- 
ing ways  and  means  to  turn  the  much  coveted  pass  into 
ready  money  for  the  benefit  of  the  homeless  waifs  now  in 
charge  of  that  benevolent  organization." 

The  pass  was  eventually  raffled  off,  and  the  proceeds 
amounted  to  over  one  hundred  pesos  for  the  orphans.  Then 
the  knockers  quieted  down,  all  but  one  or  two.  One  of 
these  started  the  story  that  the  Universal  Company  had 
never  consented  to  run  a  slogan  on  their  films,  and  that  it 
was  all  a  smooth  advertising  dodge  on  the  part  of  their  rep- 
resentative. This  brought  forth  a  prompt  denial  from  the 
representative  of  the  company,  who  was  then  at  Singapore. 
And  eventually  pictures  arrived  in  Manila  bearing  the  slogan. 
The  first  film  to  show  the  slogan  in  Manila  was  a  Universal 
production,  ''Mrs.  Plum's  Pudding,"  and  I  had  curiosity 
enough  left  at  that  time  to  induce  me  to  go  to  the  Empire  to 
see  that  show.  Possibly  you  have  seen  this  slogan  in  some 
of  the  picture  houses  at  home,  but  I  doubt  if  many  there 
realized  what  a  senseless  little  fuss  the  thing  started  over 
here.  And  it  really  was  a  senseless  affair  all  around,  of  no 
importance,  a  "tempest  in  a  teapot"  as  I  said  at  the  start. 
I  merely  write  of  it  to  show  you  how  they  do  things  over 
here.  Good,  bad,  or  indifferent,  few  escape  the  gaff  of 
pubhc  criticism,  and  I  guess  it's  just  as  well.  People  who 
flinch  at  criticism  will  never  get  very  far,  but  it  isn't  always 


THE  SLOGAN  CONTEST. 


pleasant.  I  don't  know  whether  the  slogan  was  good  or 
bad.  I  have  never  made  any  defense  of  it.  I  merely  sub- 
mitted it  and  it  was  accepted.  I  know  that  it  has  been  seen 
back  home,  for  the  Manila  Merchants  Association  has  re- 
ceived letters  about  it.  Here  is  one  they  published  which 
was  written  by  the  Immigration,  Advertising  and  Develop- 
ment Company,  of  Pryor,  Oklahoma  : 

''This  slogan  strikes  us  as  being  a  forcible  one,  and  among 
the  best  we  have  ever  heard.  We  pride  ourselves  with  try- 
ing to  think  out  good  things,  but  this  has  us  skinned  in 
every  direction." 

Quite  a  contrast  to  some  of  the  comment  here  in  Manila! 
I  don't  pretend  to  know  anything  about  the  slogan's  merits, 
and  care  less.  I  have  been  branded  as  everything  from  a 
worldbeater  to  a  horsethief  for  writing  that  slogan;  but 
that's  Manila,  a  mighty  good  town  with  all  her  faults.  I 
can't  help  liking  the  place,  even  if  it  is  necessary  to  fight 
once  in  a  while  to  hold  your  own.     I'm  part  Irish  anyway. 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  EARTHQUAKE. 

Manila,  July  30,  1915. 

Well,  we  have  been  through  an  earthquake  since  writing 
you  last.  Wonder  what  next?  It  was  only  a  nice  little 
well-behaved  earthquake,  but  it  was  the  first  one  I  ever  met, 
and  I  didn't  exactly  know  how  to  act.  It  came  one  morn- 
ing just  before  breakfast,  and  came  without  any  introduc- 
tion, either.  I  had  just  emerged  from  a  shower  bath  and 
was  getting  into  my  B.  V.  D.  unions,  when  the  walls  of  our 
room  began  to  weave  around,  and  I  though  I  was  certainly 
dizzy-headed.  Mrs.  C,  who  was  still  in  bed,  commenced  to 
yell,  and  declared  that  the  bed  was  hopping  around  the  room 
like  a  Texas  pony.  I  heard  the  wall  behind  me  crack  like 
walls  do  in  intense  cold  weather.  The  electric  light  bulb 
suspended  from  the  ceiling  was  swinging  violently,  and  it  fi- 
nally dawned  on  me  that  we  were  experiencing  an  earthquake. 

It  was  all  over  in  less  time  than  it  takes  to  write  about  it, 
but  even  at  that  it  seemed  quite  long.  The  earth  does  not 
tremble  in  little,  quick  vibrations,  such  as  occur  when  the 
rumble  of  a  railroad  train  makes  the  windows  rattle.  The 
ground  actually  moves  in  waves,  and  houses  and  everything 
else  on  the  earth's  surface  sway  accordingly.  The  sensation 
of  seeing  solid  walls  sway  back  and  forth  when  they  are  sup- 
posed to  be  solid  and  immovable,  is  decidedly  unpleasant, 
and  it  gives  the  impression  that  the  world  is  coming  to  an 
end.  The  feeling  I  had  was  that  of  extreme  dizziness,  closely 
akin  to  seasickness,  but  it  was  all  over  as  soon  as  the  earth 
settled  down  and  quit  bucking. 

(70) 


THE  EARTHQUAKE.  71 

This  earthquake  did  no  particular  damage.  They  say 
such  experiences  are  quite  common  over  here.  This  was 
the  first  one  I  have  recognized,  however.  The  Weather  Bu- 
reau reports  that  several  earthquakes  have  been  registered 
in  the  Islands  recently,  possibly  twelve  or  fourteen  during 
the  past  month,  no  doubt  small  affairs  that  passed  unnoticed. 
This  one  I  write  of  was  big  enough  to  make  itself  felt  all 
right.  Things  rocked  so  in  the  dining-room  of  the  Delmonico 
Hotel,  where  we  are  now  living,  that  many  ladies  who  were 
eating  breakfast,  got  up  and  left  the  tables.  Taal  volcano 
is  only  about  sixty  miles  away,  and  this  quake  no  doubt 
originated  in  some  internal  disorder  in  old  Taal,  probably 
gall  stones  or  something  of  the  sort.  The  government  ought 
to  send  for  Dr.  Axtell  and  have  him  come  over  and  remove 
'em. 

We  had  a  big  time  here  the  Fourth  of  July,  or  rather  the 
fifth,  this  year.  Wherever  Americans  are  located,  no  matter 
how  far  from  home,  their  patriotism  is  sure  to  bubble  over 
on  the  ^'Glorious  Fourth,"  resulting  in  a  celebration.  A 
fund  of  over  $2,000  was  raised  in  Manila  by  popular  sub- 
scription for  a  celebration,  and  we  had  a  good  one.  At  night 
there  was  a  splendid  display  of  fireworks,  about  as  fine  as  I 
ever  saw,  and  all  made  right  here  in  Manila,  too.  A  big 
Chinese  firm  made  the  fireworks  to  order.  We  viewed  the 
display  from  the  top  of  the  old  city  wall  near  the  Aquarium. 
The  sea  of  faces  of  the  crowd  down  in  the  sunken  gardens  and 
on  out  across  the  Luneta  and  the  Wallace  field  was  almost 
as  great  a  sight  as  the  fireworks.  There  were  thousands  and 
thousands  of  people  out  to  see  the  brilliant  display.  The 
beauty  of  the  fireworks  was  enhanced  by  the  intense  tropic 
darkness. 

Our  baseball  season  which  commenced  last  Thanksgiving 
Day,  has  just  closed.    The  American  team,  the  "Citizens," 


72  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

won  the  pennant  by  a  lead  of  only  one  game  in  a  great  strug- 
gle with  the  ''Nationals,"  composed  entirely  of  Filipinos. 
The  Arm}^  team,  also  white,  finished  third,  and  the  "Cus- 
toms" (Filipino)  was  fourth.  The  Navy  team  fell  by  the 
wayside  and  disbanded  early  in  the  season.  They  turn  out 
to  ball  games  over  here.  I  have  seen  crowds  of  as  high  a 
5,0G0  people  at  a  game,  and  in  the  sensational  finish  the  ex- 
citement ran  high.  The  Filipinos  take  readily  to  athletics, 
and  are  quick  to  learn,  and  this  year  they  came  mighty  close 
to  beating  the  Americans  at  their  own  game.  This  is  a  fine 
country  for  baseball.  Games  can  be  played  the  year  round, 
except  for  a  little  while  during  the  rainy  season. 

I  haven't  been  so  very  homesick,  yet  we  are  now  going 
on  our  second  year  in  the  Philippines.  However,  one  day 
not  long  ago  I  went  down  to  the  pier  to  see  some  friends  off 
on  the  transport.  It  was  the  first  time  I  had  been  doTvn  to 
see  a  boat  sail  for  home  since  I  arrived.  The  band  played 
lively  airs  and  everybody  seemed  happy.  Finally  some  one 
shouted  ''There  she  goes!"  and  the  big  transport  began  to 
glide  away  from  the  pier.  There  was  much  waving  of  hands 
and  handkerchiefs,  and  everything  was  going  fine,  until  the 
blamed  band  started  "Should  Auld  Acquaintance  be  Forgot." 
This  old  tune  brought  back  so  many  memories  and  thoughts 
of  home,  and  these,  coupled  with  the  sight  of  that  big  boat- 
load of  people  pulling  out  for  the  homeland — well,  I  wasn't 
exactly  homesick,  but  I  had  a  sort  of  "gone"  feeling,  and 
felt  a  lump  in  my  throat.  So  did  some  of  the  other  exiles 
on  the  pier,  judging  by  the  way  they  acted  as  the  transport 
swung  around  and  headed  out  into  the  bay. 

Still,  this  is  a  pretty  good  country,  and  I  guess  I  will 
continue  to  "stick  around"  for  a  while  longer.  Auto  trans- 
portation is  much  further  advanced  than  anything  I  ever 
saw  at  home.     The  splendid  roads  make  this  possible.     Even 


THE  EARTHQUAKE.  73 

away  down  on  the  island  of  Leyte  while  making  a  drive  of 
about  forty  miles  in  an  auto,  we  met  many  big  auto  trucks, 
regular  vans,  hauling  baled  hemp  to  market.  There  would 
be  three  or  four  of  these  huge  trucks  coupled  together,  all 
pulled  by  a  big  automobile.  It  looked  almost  like  a  freight 
train.  Big  passenger  cars  make  regular  runs  from  town  to 
town  in  most  of  the  islands,  and  they  are  loaded  with  people 
every  trip,  and  the  fare  is  quite  reasonable.  Towns  like 
Cebu,  Iloilo,  Tacloban,  and  many  others  in  the  provinces, 
are  big  trading  centers  and  quite  modern  for  Oriental  cities. 
The  scenery  here  is  beautiful.  It  must  be  one  of  the 
prettiest  places  on  earth.  I  well  remember  an  auto  drive  of 
about  one  hundred  miles,  which  I  made  down  along  the 
southern  shore  of  the  island  of  Bohol.  The  road  followed 
the  beach,  which  could  be  seen  through  the  trees.  This  road 
was  bordered  all  the  way  on  either  side  with  graceful  cocoa- 
nut  palms,  their  tops  meeting  over  the  roadway.  On  the 
one  hand  the  sea  and  coral  beach,  on  the  other  the  moun- 
tains clad  in  bright  green  verdure  to  their  very  tops,  which 
were  sometimes  in  the  clouds.  Where  the  mountain  bluffs 
crowded  close  to  the  sea,  the  road  climbed  up  over  the  bluff, 
and  from  these  points  the  view  was  sublime.  One  could 
look  out  to  sea  for  miles  and  miles,  while  directly  below 
nestled  beautiful  little  coves  where  the  wavelets  came  gently 
roiling  in.  Occasionally  the  road  led  into  some  little  town, 
and  as  one  sighted  the  village  through  the  palms,  with  its 
white  church  and  convent  in  striking  contrast  to  the  blazing 
red  of  the  fire-trees  in  full  bloom,  the  picturesque  native 
houses,  the  brilliant  green  of  the  little  fields  and  hillsides, 
the  big  white,  lazy  clouds,  the  bright  blue  sky,  the  bound- 
less view  out  to  sea,  the  fishing  boats  resting  in  quiet  water 
or  beached  on  the  white,  glistening  coral  sand,  it  all  made  a 
wonderful  picture  that  will  remain  with  me  always.     Not  just 


74  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

one  spot  like  this,  mind  you,  but  for  the  full  hundred  miles 
I  traveled  it  was  one  continuous,  changing  panorama  of 
tropic  beauty.  It  was  to  me  a  perfect  fairyland  and  there 
are  hundreds,  yes,  thousands,  of  such  places  all  over  the 
Islands. 

There  is  beauty  right  here  in  Manila.  Every  evening  the 
band  plays  on  the  Luneta.  It  is  fine  to  sit  out  there  and 
listen  to  the  band  and  watch  the  crowds  of  people.  As  the 
sun  drops  down  behind  Mariveles  Mountain  to  the  west, 
there  comes  the  greatest  sky-coloring,  the  most  gorgeous 
sunset  imaginable.  Great  streaks  of  blood  red,  purple,  rose, 
lavender,  changing  every  moment  as  darkness  approaches, 
and  the  night  comes  quickly.  The  colors  do  not  appear 
usually  until  after  the  sun  goes  down,  but  from  that  time 
until  dark  it  is  a  wonderful  sight.  I  wonder  if  anybody  could 
adequately  portray  with  pen  or  artist's  brush  the  beauties 
of  a  Manila  sunset?     I  am  sure  it  is  beyond  me. 

So,  w^ith  all  the  nice  little  earthquakes,  and  typhoons,  and 
v/arm  climate,  the  country  is  beautiful.  They  say  up  in 
Oregon  they  have  onl^^  two  seasons  during  the  year,  "the  wet 
and  the  darned  wet,"  or  something  like  that.  That  could  be 
applied  over  here  with  but  slight  variation.  We  have  but 
two  seasons  also,  and  they  might  be  termed  "the  hot  and 
the  darned  hot,"  and  we  are  just  emerging  from  the  latter 
season.  April,  May  and  June  this  year  were  exceedingly 
warm  months.  The  rest  of  the  year  will  be  just  warm.  The 
records  show  that  63  degrees  was  the  coldest  night  in  Manila 
during  the  past  winter.  On  the  other  hand,  there  were  only 
two  days  when  the  temperature  went  to  100,  but  has  never 
been  up  to  101  in  the  history. of  the  city,  so  I  have  been  told. 
But  100  at  sea  level  is  some  heat.  Still  it  is  not  as  uncom- 
fortable under  those  extreme  conditions  as  it  is  in  Kansas 
when  she  turns  on  her  "110  in  the  shade." 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

A  YEAR  OF  AGRICULTURAL  ORGANIZATION. 

Manila,  September  20,  1915. 
Herewith  I  am  sending  you  an  article  entitled  ''A  Year 
of  Agricultural  Organization  in  the  Philippines/'  written  by 
me  for  our  Bureau  publication,  the  Philippine  Agricultural 
Review.  It  is  a  record  of  my  work  during  the  past  year, 
and  may  be  of  interest  to  readers  who  care  to  know  what  I 
have  been  doing.  I  give  it  in  full  as  it  appeared  in  the 
September  number  (third  quarter)  of  the  Review: 

"In  the  campaign  for  advancement  of  agricultural  con- 
ditions carried  on  through  the  office  of  cooperative  organi- 
zation of  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture  during  the  past  year, 
three  great  forces  have  been  recognized.  They  are :  Or- 
ganization, agricultural  education,  and  cooperation,  and  they 
follow  each  other  in  regular  sequence.  Organization  is  neces- 
sary in  order  to  properly  conduct  a  campaign  of  education 
leading  to  cooperation  or  united  action  on  the  part  of  the 
farmers. 

'^  Agricultural  conditions  in  the  Philippines  are  peculiar. 
Farmers  are  isolated.  Mail  and  transportation  facilities, 
although  gradually  improving,  are  as  yet  grossly  inadequate. 
Lack  of  uniform  language  has  retarded  unity  of  thought  and 
action.  The  average  farmer  has  little  or  no  knowledge  of 
the  principles  of  cooperation.  He  has  been  struggling  with 
his  problems  unaided  and  alone.  It  is  little  wonder  that  in 
the  majority  of  instances  the  methods  employed  are  anti- 
quated and  the  results  often  disappointing  and  discouraging. 

"Realizing  the  benefits  of  organization  and  the  needs  of 
agricultural  education  and  cooperation.  Honorable  H.  S. 
Martin,  Secretary  of  Public  Instruction,  early  in  the  year 
of  1914  initiated  a  campaign  for  uniting  the  farmers  of  the 

(75) 


76  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

Philippines  in  an  organization  known  as  the  Philippine  Agri- 
cultural Society.  The  plan  included  the  organization  of  a 
provincial  or  governing  society  in  every  province  in  the 
Islands,  the  membership  to  be  composed  of  representative 
farmers  from  the  municipalities  of  each  province.  Under 
the  direction  and  supervision  of  these  provincial  agricultural 
societies,  municipal  agricultural  societies  were  to  be  organ- 
ized in  each  municipality.  After  the  completion  of  this  pre- 
liminary work,  an  insular  agricultural  society  was  to  be 
formed,  its  membership  to  consist  of  regularly  accredited 
delegates  from  the  various  provincial  societies.  To  facilitate 
the  work  of  organization,  the  office  of  Cooperative  Organiza- 
tion was  created  in  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture,  and  Honorable 
Monico  Mercado,  ex-delegate  from  Pampanga,  and  the 
writer,  were  appointed  as  superintendents.  During  the 
month  of  June,  1914,  the  preliminary  steps  were  taken,  in- 
cluding the  drafting  of  tentative  constitutions  and  by-laws 
to  be  used  as  a  guide  for  the  insular,  provincial  and  municipal 
societies,  and  the  arrangement  of  an  itinerary  covering  the 
leading  provinces  of  Central  Luzon.  Copies  of  the  consti- 
tutions and  by-laws  were  printed  not  only  in  English  and 
Spanish,  but  were  also  translated  and  printed  in  the  leading 
provincial  dialects,  the  more  clearly  to  make  known  the 
objects  of  the  proposed  organization. 

''The  first  actual  work  of  organization  was  begun  with 
the  organization  of  the  Provincial  Agricultural  Society  of 
Tayabas,  which  was  perfected  at  Lucena,  in  that  province, 
on  July  7,  1914.  Following  this  in  rapid  succession  during 
the  month  of  July,  provincial  agricultural  societies  were  or- 
ganized in  the  provinces  of  Batangas,  Laguna,  Rizal,  Cavitc, 
Bulacan,  Nueva  Ecija,  Pampanga,  Tarlac,  Pangasinan,  and 
Bataan,  concluding  with  the  organization  of  a  society  at  Iba, 
Zambales,  on  July  31.  The  work  was  continued  during  the 
month  of  August,  1914.  The  coast-guard  cutter  Corregidor 
was  chartered  and  a  tour  of  the  southern  provinces  was  ar- 
ranged. During  this  trip  agricultural  societies  were  organ- 
ized in  the  provinces  of  Palawan,  Capiz,  Iloilo,  Occidental 
Negros,  Oriental  Negros,  and  Cebu.  At  Cebu,  owing  to  an 
unfortunate  accident  to  the  engine  of  the  coast-guard  cutter, 


A  YEAR  OF  AGRICULTURAL  ORGANIZATION.  77 

the  boat  was  compelled  to  return  to  Manila  for  repairs,  and 
the  remainder  of  the  southern  schedule  was  abandoned  for 
the  time  being,  except  the  provinces  of  Albay  and  Ambos 
Camarines,  which  were  reached  by  regular  boat  after  return- 
ing to  Manila,  in  time  to  attend  meetings  on  the  dates  pre- 
viously arranged.  The  society  at  Naga,  Ambos  Camarines, 
was  organized  August  25,  1914,  being  the  last  one  for  that 
month,  and  the  twentieth  society  formed  since  the  organizers 
started  out  on  their  work  on  July  7.  The  organizers  met 
with  the  hearty  support  of  the  agriculturists  in  every  province 
visited.  The  meetings  were  well  attended  and  there  was 
much  interest  and  enthusiasm.  Probably  the  largest  meeting 
held  was  at  Dagupan,  Pangasinan,  where  forty-four  out  of  a 
total  of  forty-six  municipalities  had  representatives  at  the 
meeting,  which  was  held  July  25.  The  total  attendance  was 
more  than  450  interested  farmers. 

''Upon  returning  to  Manila  from  the  southern  organizing 
trip,  the  work  having  been  well  started,  Mr.  Mercado  re- 
signed his  position  as  one  of  the  organizers  in  order  to  give 
his  entire  attention  to  his  law  practice,  and  the  work  has 
since  that  time  been  continued  by  the  writer,  at  times  as- 
sisted by  Honorable  Adriano  Hernandez,  Assistant  Director 
of  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture. 

''The  work  of  organizing  municipal  agricultural  societies 
occupied  much  of  the  time  during  the  next  few  months. 
This  work  was  done  largely  by  the  newly-elected  officers  of 
the  provincial  societies,  under  the  direction  of  the  office  of 
Cooperative  Organization  in  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture. 
Copies  of  the  constitution  and  by-laws,  blanks  for  secretary's 
reports  and  instructions  concerning  organizing  municipal 
societies  were  forwarded  to  the  officers  of  the  provincial 
agricultural  societies,  and  they  were  urged  to  at  once  take 
up  the  work  of  thoroughly  organizing  their  provinces.  The 
results  were  highly  satisfactory.  The  unselfish,  patriotic 
work  of  many  of  these  officials  deserves  the  highest  com- 
mendation. They  gave  freely  of  both  their  time  and  their 
money  in  furthering  the  work.  Some  of  the  officers  of  the 
provincial  societies  visited  every  municipality  within  their 
jurisdiction,  delivered  lectures  to  the  people,  explained  the 


78  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

benejQts  of  the  new  movement,  and  assisted  in  organizing 
the  farmers  in  each  locahty.  As  a  result,  the  office  of  Co- 
operative Organization  was  kept  busy  tabulating  the  reports 
of  municipal  organizations  as  they  came  in.  By  the  end  of 
November,  1914,  over  150  municipal  agricultural  societies 
had  been  reported,  and  by  January,  1915,  the  total  had  in- 
creased to  over  200.  All  this  work  was  done  by  the  pro- 
vincial societies  and  their  active  officials  at  their  own  expense, 
as  up  to  the  present  writing  no  money  whatever  has  been 
received  by  any  of  these  societies  from  the  General  Govern- 
ment. 

As  fast  as  the  reports  of  these  organizations  were  received 
they  were  entered  in  the  permanent  records  of  the  office  of 
Cooperative  Organization,  card  indexed  and  alphabetically 
arranged  by  provinces  for  ready  reference.  From  time  to 
time  during  the  year  the  work  of  provincial  organization 
has  been  extended,  personal  visits  having  been  made  by  the 
superintendent  to  the  provinces  of  Samar,  Leyte  and  Bohol, 
where  provincial  societies  were  established,  and  through  cor- 
respondence and  personal  aid  of  leading  agriculturists  and 
officials,  societies  have  been  formed  in  the  provinces  of 
Surigao,  Mindoro,  Masbate  and  Ilocos  Norte. 

A  summary  of  the  work  of  organization  up  to  the  time 
this  article  is  written  (September,  1915),  a  period  of  but 
little  over  one  year,  shows  a  total  of  twenty-seven  provinces 
in  which  provincial  agricultural  societies  have  been  estab- 
lished, and  under  the  direction  of  these  parent  organizations 
there  are  265  municipal  or  branch  societies,  the  total  member- 
ship exceeding  20,000.  This  membership  is  limited  to  per- 
sons who  are  actively  engaged  in  the  vocation  of  agriculture. 
This  is  the  record  of  the  year's  accomplishment  in  organiza- 
tion. Naturally,  interest  follows  in  the  educational  and  co- 
operative results  obtained  through  this  organization. 

''The  educational  work  has  been  carried  on  by  lectures 
given  by  officers  of  these  societies  at  regular  and  special 
meetings.  From  time  to  time  members  of  the  Bureau  of 
Agriculture  and  others  have  delivered  lectures  to  the  so- 
cieties. It  is  estimated  that  over  40,000  farmers  were 
reached  by  the  exhibit,  demonstration  and  lectures  of  the 


A  YEAR  OF  AGRICULTURAL  ORGANIZATION.  79 

successful  "Rice-speciar*  trip  this  season,  a  45-day  tour  over 
the  lines  of  the  Manila  Railway. 

"Commencing  in  November,  1914,  a  market  report  con- 
taining a  summary  of  Manila  prices  on  standard  farm  pro- 
ducts such  as  rice,  copra,  abaca  (Manila  hemp),  sugar,  to- 
bacco and  livestock,  has  been  compiled  weekly  and  a  copy 
has  been  mailed  promptly  every  week  to  the  president  of 
each  provincial  and  municipal  society  for  the  guidance  of 
the  members  in  marketing  their  farm  products.  A  weekly 
cable  report  of  New  York  sugar  prices  has  been  received  and 
promptly  forwarded  by  wire  to  the  leading  sugar-producing 
provinces. 

"In  the  month  of  January,  1915,  the  pubHcation  of  the 
Philippine  Farmer  was  commenced,  a  monthly  periodical  de- 
voted to  practical  farm  topics.  It  is  printed  in  English  and 
Spanish,  and  is  sent  free  to  every  member  of  the  Philippine 
Agricultural  Society. 

"The  writer  has  personally  visited  as  many  of  the  socie- 
ties as  the  limited  time  at  his  disposal  permitted,  and  has 
delivered  talks  on  cooperation  and  assisted  in  every  way 
possible  in  maintaining  interest  in  the  organization.  Acting 
Director  Hernandez,  the  chief  of  the  demonstration  division 
of  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture,  and  the  field  men  of  the  Bu- 
reau have  aided  in  the  educational  work  by  holding  special 
meetings  in  which  educational  work  in  seed  selection,  soil 
preparation,  methods  of  planting,  irrigation,  cultivation,  the 
use  of  modern  implements,  preparation  and  marketing  of 
products,  and  of  the  spirit  of  cooperation  and  united  action, 
has  been  carried  forward  with  marked  success. 

"Although  the  work  of  these  newly-organized  societies 
during  the  past  year  has  necessarily  been  largely  educational, 
and  will  probably  be  of  that  nature  for  some  time  to  come, 
yet  the  results  of  agricultural  education  and  even  ventures 
along  cooperative  lines  are  apparent.  In  the  food-produc- 
tion campaign  of  last  year,  although  the  societies  were  in 
their  infancy,  they  were  an  important  aid  in  increasing  pro- 
duction of  secondary  food  products  all  over  the  Islands. 
The  president  of  the  Provincial  Agricultural  Society  of  Albay 
states  that  although  the  recent  prolonged  drought  was  so 


80  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

severe  that  in  many  places  eighty  per  cent  of  the  abaca 
(Manila  hemp)  crop  was  ruined,  the  price  of  food  products 
did  not  advance,  due  to  the  excellent  work  of  the  agricultural 
societies  in  conducting  the  food-production  campaign. 

**  Cooperation  was  apparent  in  the  province  of  Tayabas 
during  the  recent  campaign  against  bud-rot  in  the  cocoanut 
groves.  Meetings  of  the  societies  were  held,  lectures  were 
delivered,  and  active  support  was  given  by  the  members  to 
the  enforcement  of  the  strict  measures  of  the  Bureau  of 
Agriculture  for  the  suppression  of  this  destructive  disease. 

'*In  Pampanga,  the  provincial  society  has  been  very  active 
in  laboring  for  the  welfare  of  the  farmers  of  the  province. 
The  officers  of  the  society  have  held  important  conferences 
with  the  officials  of  the  Manila  Railway  Company,  and  were 
successful  in  securing  better  train  service,  equipment,  etc., 
and  many  times  during  the  last  session  of  the  Legislature 
made  known  the  wishes  of  Pampanga  farmers  on  important 
legislative  matters. 

"In  Iloilo,  the  president  of  the  provincial  society  states  that 
there  is  a  demand  for  selected  seed  by  farmers  from  every 
municipality  in  the  province,  a  condition  heretofore  unknown 
in  the  history  of  the  province.  He  attributes  this  largely 
to  the  activities  of  the  agricultural  societies  and  to  informa- 
tion obtained  by  reading  the  society  pubhcation,  the  Philip- 
pine Farmer. 

"Agricultural  inspectors,  fiber  inspectors,  and  field  men  of 
the  Bureau  generally,  report  that  the  societies  have  been  of 
assistance  to  them  in  their  field  and  demonstration  work. 

"In  many  municipalities  the  farmers  hold  their  meetings 
in  the  home  of  some  member  of  the  society,  where  the  farm 
paper  is  read  regularly  and  translated  into  the  local  dialect, 
and  the  topics  are  discussed  and  much  valuable  information 
is  obtained. 

"In  several  localities,  members  of  the  society  have  bought 
live  stock,  community  owned,  for  the  purpose  of  improving 
the  herds  of  the  members.  The  animal  husbandry  division 
of  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture  receives  many  communications 
every  week  along  this  line. 

"Members  of  the  society  in  Tarlac  and  other  provinces 


A  YEAR  OF  AGRICULTURAL  ORGANIZATION.  81 

have  pooled  their  interests  in  irrigation  projects,  the  coop- 
erative plan  proving  very  satisfactory. 

"In  several  localities  cooperative  stock  corporations  have 
been  formed  and  shares  offered  to  members  on  the  plan  of 
paying  for  the  same  in  regular  monthly  installments,  thus 
adding  a  savings  feature  to  that  of  cooperative  business. 
This  idea  is  exemplified  fully  in  the  society  known  as  the 
Lipa  Young  Farmers'  Association,  a  branch  of  the  Lipa, 
Batangas,  Municipal  Agricultural  Society.  This  society,  as 
its  name  implies,  is  composed  of  young  farmers.  It  has  a 
membership  of  over  forty ;  the  shares  have  a  par  value  of 
$5.00  each,  and  each  member  must  own  at  least  one  share. 
The  company  is  organized  to  deal  in  improved  live  stock  and 
conduct  a  general  agricultural  business  cooperatively. 

''In  the  province  of  Albay  a  big  two-days'  special  meeting, 
or  congress,  was  held  during  the  past  year.  Addresses  were 
made  by  the  Provincial  Governor,  the  Lieutenant-Governor, 
by  lawyers,  doctors,  the  third  member,  the  president  of  the 
Provincial  Agricultural  Society,  the  provincial  delegates  and 
many  others  of  prominence. 

"Another  event  in  which  the  organized  farmers  of  the 
Islands  played  a  prominent  part  was  the  Farmers  Congress, 
held  in  Manila,  August  21  to  28,  1915.  This  great  meeting 
was  called  upon  the  initiative  of  Honorable  Manuel  Quezon, 
resident  Commissioner,  and  the  members  of  the  Economic 
League,  a  Manila  organization.  Members  of  the  Philippine 
Agricultural  Society  were  well  represented  at  this  meeting 
and  helped  in  every  way  possible  to  make  it  a  success. 
Nearly  500  delegates  attended,  representing  nearly  every 
province  in  the  archipelago.  Addresses  were  made  by  lead- 
ing officials  of  the  government,  by  educators,  commercial 
men,  leading  farmers,  and  Bureau  specialists.  The  members 
of  the  various  committees  worked  earnestly  and  intelligently 
on  the  difficult  tasks  assigned  them,  and  the  result  of  their 
labors  as  outlined  in  the  thirty-four  resolutions  adopted  on 
the  last  day  of  the  meeting  was  highly  creditable.  In  the 
selection  of  the  officers  of  the  congress,  the  organized  farmers 
were  fully  recognized,  as  every  officer  is  a  member  of  the 
Philippine  Agricultural  Society. 


82  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

"The  active  participation  of  the  PhiUppine  Agricultural 
Society  in  the  dehberations  of  the  Farmers  Congress,  and 
the  pronounced  success  of  the  congress  itself,  are  matters 
of  congratulation,  but  the  calhng  of  the  congress  at  the 
particular  time  it  was  held  seriously  interfered  with  one 
plan  of  the  Philippine  Agricultural  Society,  that  of  the  or- 
ganization of  an  insular  agricultural  society.  The  Farm- 
ers Congress  so  carefully  covered  all  insular  matters  of  an 
agricultural  nature  and  brought  so  many  of  the  leading  fann- 
ers into  conference,  that  it  was  not  deemed  expedient  to 
attempt  the  organization  of  an  insular  agricultural  society 
until  some  later  date.  When  this  work  is  accomplished,  to- 
gether with  the  addition  of  provincial  organizations  in  the 
few  remaining  provinces,  the  organization  will  be  complete. 
It  is  the  first  effort  at  organization  on  so  large  a  scale  ever 
attempted  in  the  PhiHppines. 

"The  record  of  accomplishment  in  one  short  year  speaks 
for  itself.  The  society  is  as  yet  in  its  infancy,  but  the  re- 
sults obtained  are  encouraging  and  prove  the  wisdom  of  the 
adoption  of  the  plan  of  organization.  Success  has  by  no 
means  been  attained  in  every  case.  Some  of  the  societies 
that  were  enthusiastic  at  the  start,  have  grown  indifferent, 
and  results  in  these  instances  have  been  negative.  It  is  a 
constant  struggle  to  keep  interest  aUve,  to  keep  the  socie- 
ties on  their  feet  and  moving.  There  have  been  discourage- 
ments along  with  the  small  measure  of  success  attained  dur- 
ing the  first  year  of  agricultural  organization  in  the  Philip- 
pines. The  fact  that  some  progress  has  been  made  is  en- 
couraging. There  is  justification  in  the  beUef  that  through 
organization,  education  and  cooperation  faithfully  upheld  in 
the  years  to  come,  great  improvement  will  be  made  in  agri- 
culture, for  with  these  three  forces  properly  directed  will 
come  increased  production,  better  systems  of  marketing, 
lower  interest  rates  and  more  extended  irrigation  systems, 
increased  revenues  for  schools  and  transportation,  more  com- 
forts, and  less  grinding  toil,  relief  from  present  isolation, 
more  self-rehance,  a  viewpoint  of  the  dignity  of  farming  as 
a  vocation,  happy  homes,  and  a  prosperous  and  contented 
people.    The  attainment  of  these  conditions  could  hardly  be 


A  YEAR  OF  AGRICULTURAL  ORGANIZATION.  83 

expected  in  one  year  of  organization,  education  and  coopera- 
tion. But  a  start  has  been  made.  The  way  has  been 
opened.  It  leads  straight  to  prosperity.  The  ultimate  suc- 
cess necessarily  rests  with  the  farmers  themselves.  If  they 
become  indifferent,  their  condition  can  hardly  be  expected  to 
improve.  If  they  continue  to  show  a  willingness  to  progress, 
as  they  have  done  in  a  majority  of  provinces  during  the  past 
year,  the  road  to  success  is  plain." 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

TYPHOONS,  VOLCANOES,  ETC. 

Manila,  November  25,  1915. 

Since  writing  my  last  letter  the  Islands  have  been  swept 
by  three  severe  typhoons  that  have  caused  much  loss  of  life 
and  damage  to  property.  The  typhoon  is  a  Kansas  tor- 
nado's big  brother.  Instead  of  cutting  a  narrow  path  like 
the  tornado  or  ''cyclone,''  so  called  by  many,  the  typhoon 
is  a  rotary  storm  of  several  hundred  miles  in  diameter,  and 
although  not  as  severe  over  all  this  great  extent  as  the 
vortex  of  a  tornado  at  home,  it  is  certainly  destructive 
enough.  The  sky  becomes  overcast,  great  clouds  go  sweep- 
ing low,  the  wind  blows  violently  first  from  one  quarter, 
then  from  another,  depending  on  the  location  of  the  center 
of  the  storm  area.  All  three  of  the  recent  storms  have 
passed  close  to  Manila,  but  not  close  enough  to  cause  much 
damage  here. 

From  June,  1914,  up  to  October,  1915,  there  were  no  bad 
storms  here,  and  I  began  to  think  the  typhoon  stories  were 
told  to  scare  new-comers.  There  were  months  and  months 
of  either  gentle,  balmy  breeze  or  no  breeze  at  all.  Then 
one  day  I  changed  my  mind,  and  have  changed  it  several 
times  since,  for  typhoons  came  and  then  kept  on  coming. 
The  government  maintains  a  splendid  Weather  Bureau,  and 
typhoon  warnings  are  always  sent  out  ahead  of  a  storm. 
They  are  able  to  tell  with  reasonable  accuracy  when  and 
where  a  storm  is  forming,  its  general  course,  and  where  it 
will  strike  the  Islands,  sometimes  two  days  before  its  ar- 
rival.   When  this  warning  goes  out,  everybody  heeds  it, 

(84) 


TYPHOONS,  VOLCANOES,  ETC.  85 

especially  shipping  interests.  They  have  learned  to  do  so. 
When  typhoon  warning  went  out  for  the  first  storm,  ships 
in  the  harbor  here  got  busy  promptly.  Big  ships  got  up 
steam,  heaved  over  a  second  anchor,  and  prepared  to  buck 
the  storm.  The  smaller  craft  scooted  for  the  shelter  of  the 
Pasig  River,  until  the  big  stream  was  fairly  choked.  Not  a 
boat  dared  leave  port.  The  storm  struck  the  Islands  near 
southern  Luzon,  swept  the  Camarines,  Tayabas,  Batangas, 
Cavite,  and  out  across  the  bay  by  way  of  Corregidor  to  the 
China  Sea,  so  you  see  it  got  pretty  close  to  Manila.  One 
boat  was  wrecked  over  near  Cavite  and  fourteen  people  were 
drowned.  The  bay  was  so  rough  for  two  days  after  the 
storm  that  the  regular  ferry  boat  to  Corregidor  could  not 
make  the  trip.  It  went  out  one  day  and  tried  it,  and  after 
bucking  the  waves  for  over  two  hours  steadily  without  mak- 
ing any  progress,  gave  it  up  and  came  back.  The  path  of 
this  storm  was  over  one  hundred  miles  in  width,  and  it 
caused  much  destruction  of  life  and  property  before  passing 
out  into  the  China  Sea. 

Another  of  the  big  storms  went  north  of  Manila,  up 
through  Nueva  Ecija,  La  Union  and  the  Ilocos  provinces. 
A  week  or  two  after  this  storm,  I  made  a  trip  up  through 
that  country  and  saw  some  of  the  damage  it  had  done.  Big 
houses  were  unroofed,  small  nipa  shacks  were  blown  down 
and  the  leaves  were  whipped  from  the  trees  where  the  trees 
were  not  uprooted  bodily.  The  wind  registered  a  velocity 
of  over  one  hundred  miles  an  hour,  and  the  area  damaged 
ranged  from  the  province  of  La  Union  clear  up  to  Ilocos 
Norte,  the  extreme  northern  province  of  Luzon.  A  Kansas 
tornado  is  bad  enough.  I  don't  want  to  get  in  the  way  of 
one  of  these  full  grown  fellows  over  here  if  I  can  avoid  it. 

Another  interesting  feature  over  here  that  we  do  not  have 
at  home  is  the  volcanoes.    There  are  two  famous  volcanoes 


86  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

on  the  island  of  Luzon,  and  I  have  seen  them  both — Taal 
in  Batangas  province,  and  Mayon  in  Albay  province,  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  island.  Mayon  is  a  handsome  moun- 
tain, said  to  be  the  most  perfect  cone  in  the  world.  Taal, 
just  the  reverse,  is  a  low,  squatty  volcano  that  has  literally 
blown  its  head  off.  It  stands  in  the  center  of  the  lake  and 
looks  like  a  low  island.  Volcanoes  are  attractive  enough  to 
me  when  quiet.  I  have  no  desire  to  see  either  one  of  these 
spouters  in  action,  although  there  is  no  telling  when  they 
may  conclude  to  get  busy.  Down  at  Los  Banos,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  Taal  volcano,  there  are  hot  springs,  the 
water  coming  from  the  earth  in  boihng  hot  streams.  The 
water  flows  into  Laguna  de  Bay,  and  steam  is  constantly 
rising  where  these  hot  currents  enter  the  lake.  The  Los 
Banos  hot  baths  are  famous.  I  have  visited  a  good  many 
of  the  springs  in  this  locality,  and  they  always  give  me  the 
impression  that  Hades  can't  be  very  far  from  there.  A  friend 
of  mine  had  a  little  farm  near  Los  Baiios,  and  dug  a  well 
twenty  feet  deep  near  his  house.  He  got  water  all  right, 
nice  water,  so  hot  when  drawn  from  the  well  that  you  couldn't 
hold  your  finger  in  it.  Fine  for  dishwater  and  on  washdays, 
but  it  takes  time  to  convert  it  into  drinking  water. 

The  Weather  Bureau  reported  twenty-four  earthquakes  in 
the  PhiUp pines  last  month.  They  must  have  been  little  fel- 
lows, or  else  I  am  getting  used  to  them,  as  but  one  of  the 
twenty-four  attracted  my  attention.  But  possibly  this  is 
enough  nature  stories  for  the  present. 

Let  me  tell  you  something  about  the  national  pastime  over 
here.  In  America  the  amount  of  money  spent  on  baseball  is 
enormous.  The  game  is  rapidly  gaining  a  foothold  in  the 
Phihppines,  but  it  will  be  some  time  before  it  supplants  the 
Filipino's  national  pastime,  the  cockfight.  This  will  give 
you  some  idea  of  the  extent  of  cockfighting  in  the  Philip- 


TYPHOONS,  VOLCANOES,  ETC.  87 

pines :  The  proprietors  of  cockpits  are  required  to  pay  an 
annual  license  of  two  hundred  pesos  each.  Twenty-five 
centavos  are  collected  for  each  cockfight.  The  total  rev- 
enues for  the  past  nine  months  amounted  to  over  406,904 
pesos,  over  300,000  pesos  being  collected  from  proprietors 
and  over  100,000  from  the  fights,  the  latter  sum  indicating 
that  there  were  over  400,000  cockfights  during  these  past 
nine  months.  Sunday  is  always  the  big  day  for  cockfights,. 
Instead  of  observing  the  day  like  many  Americans  by  going 
fishing,  the  untutored  Filipino  goes  to  the  cockpit.  I  have 
made  one  visit  to  a  cockpit.  That  was  enough  for  me.  It  is 
a  bloody,  sickening  sight  to  see  birds  murder  each  other  with 
sharp  daggers  on  their  legs.  I  like  sport,  but  I  can't  see  any 
sport  in  a  cockfight.  I  may  not  be  educated  up  to  it,  and 
furthermore  I  don't  want  to  be. 

I  presume  you  people  back  home  think  you  are  up  to  date, 
but  there  is  nearly  twelve  hours  difference  in  time  between 
the  Philippines  and  the  United  States,  and  it's  all  in  our 
favor  over  here.  In  other  words,  we  are  that  much  ahead  of 
you.  When  our  day  is  done  it  is  just  about  sunup  of  the 
same  day  for  you.  Our  Monday  sunset  is  your  Monday  sun- 
rise. That's  how  it  came  that  when  Dewey  sunk  the  Spanish 
fleet  here  that  morning  of  the  first  of  May  we  knew  all  about 
it  so  soon  in  the  States.  The  papers  told  us  how  Dewey 
stopped  for  breakfast,  and  we  read  about  it  at  our  breakfast 
the  same  day.  Dewey  was  about  ten  or  eleven  hours  ahead 
of  us,  that  was  all.  So  if  you  want  to  know  what  time  it  is 
over  here,  just  jump  ahead  ten  to  twelve  hours  and  you  will 
have  it.  We  are  ahead  of  the  procession  because  we  are  in 
the  Far  East. 

This  letter  is  written  on  Thanksgiving  Day,  but  there  is 
little  in  the  Tropics  to  remind  one  of  the  good  old  New 
England  holiday.    The  churches  of  course  held  appropriate 


88  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

services,  and  the  day  is  observed  as  a  holiday  by  the  govern- 
ment offices,  because  no  chance  for  a  hoUday  is  ever  over- 
looked in  this  countrj^ ;  but  a  good  deal  of  the  other  things 
that  go  with  a  well-regulated  Thanksgiving  Day  are  missing. 
Today  is  much  more  like  a  Fourth  of  July.  No  ''frost  on 
the  pumpkin"  over  here.  No  bright-colored  autumn  leaves ; 
no  chill  in  the  air;  no  big  red  apples;  no  hickory  nuts; 
no  good  rich  mince  pie ;  no  huddUng  around  the  stove ;  not 
even  a  stove.  Just  bright  skies,  green  grass,  beautiful  flow- 
ers, sunshine,  summer  and — sweat.  You  might  think  one 
would  never  grow  tired  of  it,  but  it  is  a  good  deal  Hke  being 
fed  on  nothing  but  pie.  Pie  is  all  right  in  its  place,  but  it 
would  be  poor  stuff  for  a  steady  diet.  After  a  while  you 
would  begin  to  long  for  bacon  and  beans,  no  matter  how  fine 
the  pie. 

My  work  in  the  Bureau  keeps  me  fairly  busy,  but  I  have 
found  time  to  attend  a  good  many  farmers'  meetings,  have 
traveled  with  the  Bureau's  demonstration  coach,  have  plowed 
with  a  carabao  and  a  little  ''modern"  plow  that  I  could 
shoulder  and  walk  off  with,  have  experienced  all  kinds  of 
"chow"  from  dining  with  the  Governor-General  to  eating 
plain  fish  and  rice  with  the  natives.  I  have  traveled  all 
kinds  of  ways  from  fine  steamers  and  autos,  to  taking  it 
across  the  rice  paddies  through  the  mud  on  foot,  and  it  all 
seems  to  agree  with  me,  as  I  am  gradually  getting  fatter. 
Last  test  I  weighed  230  in  the  shade,  and  going  strong. 

I  am  collecting  a  few  curios  as  I  go  along.  Even  have  an 
elephant  on  my  hands.  Not  a  real  live  elephant,  but  one  I 
got  the  other  day  that  had  been  looted  from  a  Chinese 
temple  at  Pekin  during  the  Boxer  uprising.  It  is  carved  out 
of  one  piece  of  solid  ebony  and  stands  about  five  inches 
high.  I  have  a  lot  of  other  junk  that  I  presume  I  will  never 
be  able  to  get  home,  yet  I  keep  on  getting  the  stuff.     I  have 


TYPHOONS,  VOLCANOES,  ETC.  89 

polished  carabao  horns,  shells;  coral,  baskets,  vases,  bat 
skins,  bolos,  gee-strings,  borongs,  butterflies,  pictures,  em- 
broidery, brass,  china  ware ;  in  fact,  the  stuff  just  keeps  ac- 
cumulating, and  I  can't  keep  from  collecting  it.  I  am  going 
to  try  to  bring  some  of  the  stuff  back  home,  especially  my 
black  elephant  and  my  case  of  pretty  mounted  butterflies. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

FILIPINOS. 

Manila,  December  1,  1915. 
Having  traveled  to  nearly  all  the  islands  in  the  archipelago 
now  except  the  island  of  Mindanao,  which  is  Moro  land,  I 
have  had  a  pretty  good  chance  to  see  the  Filipinos  at  close 
range.  They  are  pretty  good  folks  as  a  rule,  kind,  hospit- 
able, peaceful  and  home-loving.  Most  people  of  the  United 
States  have  a  wrong  idea  about  the  inhabitants  of  these 
islands.  It  is  because  the  savage  or  wild  tribes  have  been 
well  advertised  in  America,  and  the  great  mass  of  the  popu- 
lation here,  the  civiUzed  people,  attract  little  or  no  attention. 
The  freaks,  the  exceptions,  have  been  well  advertised.  Na- 
turally when  these  islands  are  mentioned,  our  people  think 
of  the  freaks,  exceptions  like  the  dog-eating  Igorots,  the 
dwarf  Negritos  or  the  savage  Moros.  These  savages  are  not 
in  the  majority.  They  are  hardly  a  factor  in  the  population. 
They  bear  about  as  much  resemblance  to  the  Filipinos  as  the 
Indians  do  to  civiUzation  in  America.  If  foreigners  judged 
American  civilization  by  the  lives  of  our  Kiowas,  Comanches 
or  Cheyenne  Indians,  we  would  feel  that  we  were  sadly  mis- 
judged. That's  the  way  the  Filipino  feels  about  the  situa- 
tion here.  Young  men  who  have  had  exceptional  educa- 
tional advantages  from  infancy,  sons  of  wealthy  parents 
who  gave  them  every  possible  luxury,  even  to  sending  them 
to  the  United  States  to  finish  their  education,  have  told  me 
that  while  in  America  many  people  asked  them  how  long 
they  had  been  wearing  clothes,  and  other  frivolous  questions, 
plainly  indicating  the  American  idea  that  such  a  rare  speci- 

(90) 


FILIPINOS.  91 


men  had  no  doubt  only  recently  crawled  down  out  of  a 
cocoanut  tree  and  become  partially  civilized.  Naturally 
they  feel  hurt  over  such  an  attitude.  The  population  of 
these  islands  is  probably  over  nine  milHon.  Of  these,  no 
doubt  less  than  a  miUion  belong  to  the  savage  tribes,  whose 
homes  are  in  the  mountains  and  wild  places,  and  are  seldom 
seen.  Yet  many  people  back  home  imagine  the  Philippines 
as  a  place  where  people  run  wild,  dressed  only  in  gee-strings, 
and  live  on  dog  meat  and  grasshoppers.     It's  all  wrong. 

PhiHppine  civilization  may  not  be  up  to  our  standard  of 
civilization,  but  it  is  away  above  the  average  of  the  Orient, 
I  am  told,  and  from  what  I  have  seen  I  believe  this  is  true. 
These  islands  are  not  a  wilderness  nor  a  jungle,  although 
there  is  much  uncultivated,  unsettled  land.  Manila  is  not 
the  only  city  here  that  has  modern  conveniences.  There  is 
a  good  railway  system  over  a  large  portion  of  Luzon  island, 
and  it  is  being  extended.  Down  on  the  island  of  Panay 
there  is  a  railroad  clear  across  the  island  from  Iloilo  to  Capiz, 
American  owned  and  operated.  There  is  also  a  railroad  of 
some  extent  on  the  island  of  Cebu.  In  every  province  of 
any  importance  there  are  splendid  rock-base  roads  over 
which  automobiles  go  at  high  speed. 

No  doubt  to  folks  back  home  the  PhiUppines  appear 
merely  as  a  speck  on  the  map.  Did  you  know  that  from  the 
Batanes  on  the  north  to  the  Sulu  group  on  the  south  was  a 
good  deal  farther  than  from  Topeka  to  Galveston?  That 
from  Samar  on  the  east  to  Palawan  on  the  west  was  farther 
than  from  Chicago  to  Hutchinson?  There  is  not  much  de- 
velopment yet  on  some  of  these  islands  like  Samar,  Mindanao 
and  Palawan.  Mindanao  is  almost  as  large  as  Luzon,  rich  in 
resources,  and  practically  undeveloped.  Even  the  island  of 
Mindoro,  close  to  Luzon,  is  largely  unknown  and  unexplored. 
It  has  the  reputation  of  being  an  unhealthy  place,  which  has 


92  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

retarded  its  development.  Mindoro  is  as  large  as  the  island 
of  Panay,  yet  Panay  is  divided  into  three  thriving  provinces, 
Iloilo,  Capiz,  and  Antique,  and  along  with  Cebu,  Luzon,  and 
Negros,  is  well  populated.  Probably  the  wealthiest  people 
of  the  Islands  are  the  rich  sugar  planters  of  Panay  and 
Negros. 

Mindanao  and  the  Sulu  group  constitute  the  Moro  land, 
and  the  savage  Moro  in  times  past  has  been  about  as  big  a 
terror  to  peaceful  settlers  as  the  Sioux,  Apaches,  or  Black- 
feet  Indians  were  to  pioneers  on  our  western  plains  back 
home.  The  Moro  is  not  only  a  savage,  but  a  religious  fanatic 
as  well,  and  welcomes  a  chance  to  die  fighting.  Some  big 
stories  come  up  to  us  from  Moro  land  occasionally.  A  re- 
liable Constabulary  officer  related  to  me  the  story  of  one  of 
his  encounters,  when  attacked  unexpectedly  by  two  Moros 
armed  with  bolos.  He  grabbed  one  by  the  arm  which  held 
the  bolo,  and  shot  the  other  one  four  times  through  the  chest, 
and  then  had  to  finish  him  with  his  own  bolo  before  he  would 
be  good.  He  was  badly  chopped  up,  and  walks  with  a  limp, 
but  he  still  retains  the  two  bolos  as  grim  souvenirs.  All  this 
happened  a  long  way  from  Manila,  a  border  or  outpost  scrap, 
and  it's  not  the  only  one  of  its  kind,  nor  is  it  the  greatest 
event  of  this  nature  that  has  happened.  It  will  be  some 
time  yet  before  all  the  wild  tribes  will  be  subdued  in  those 
out-of-the-way  places,  especially  down  at  Jolo  and  the  Sulu 
group. 

Naturally  when  a  good  many  home  people  read  this  they 
will  say:  ''Why,  the  Filipinos  are  still  fighting."  That's 
right  in  line  with  what  I  tried  to  tell  you  at  the  start.  The 
country  is  so  big  and  there  are  so  many  kinds  of  people  that 
when  one  writes  of  one  particular  class,  no  matter  how  small 
or  isolated,  those  unacquainted  with  the  country  naturally 
jump  to  the  conclusion  that  the  description  fits  the  whole 


FILIPINOS.  93 


Philippines.  Of  course,  for  isn't  a  Filipino  a  Filipino?  Just 
as  sure  as  two  and  two  are  four.  Yet  the  term  FiHpino  to 
the  American  mind  is  confusing,  because  to  him  it  may  mean 
the  savage  Moro,  the  bare-legged  Igorot,  the  httle  Negrito, 
the  field  laborers  or  'Haos,"  the  independent  farmers,  the 
''ilustrados,"  the  big  hacenderos,  the  town  dwellers,  the 
tradesmen  and  professional  men,  the  sea-faring  population, 
the  artisans,  educators,  officials,  and  people  of  all  classes  and 
provincial  characteristics.  So  when  reference  is  made  to  a 
Filipino  custom  it  may  easily  apply  to  one  class  and  be  ab- 
solutely foreign  to  another. 

Kansas  got  a  good  deal  of  free  advertising  in  times  past 
from  Carrie  Nation,  Jerry  Simpson,  Peffer  and  Mary  Lease, 
yet  the  mass  of  the  population  didn't  wear  whiskers,  go 
without  socks,  smash  saloons  with  a  hatchet,  nor  raise  less 
corn  and  more  hades  as  some  advised.  In  the  Eastern  mind 
there  lingers  the  impression  that  the  Indian  and  the  buff^jlo 
still  roam  the  plains  of  Kansas,  and  that  the  state  is  a  land 
of  hot  winds,  grasshoppers  and  cyclones,  because  these  freak 
features  were  advertised.  It  is  therefore  little  wonder  that 
America  gets  a  wrong  impression  once  in  a  while  about  the 
Philippines,  because  the  great  bulk  of  the  solid,  well-behaved, 
peace-loving  Christian  Filipinos  go  about  their  business  at- 
tracting little  attention,  while  the  dog-eating,  head-hunting 
Igorot  in  his  gee-string  is  the  center  of  attraction.  The  Far 
East  is  the  Far  East  all  right.  It  is  Malay  stock,  but  it 
isn't  half  so  "woolly"  as  you  might  suppose.  In  fact,  the 
Philippines  are  a  good  deal  better  than  your  best  guess,  I'll 
venture  that,  and  conditions  are  improving  all  the  time. 
Even  the  wild  tribes  are  much  more  eager  for  education  than 
are  our  Indians,  and  schools  cannot  be  established  fast 
enough  to  meet  the  demand. 

The  country  is  greatly  handicapped  on  account  of  Ian- 


94  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

guage — not  for  lack  of  it,  but  on  account  of  a  surplus  of  it. 
There  is  need  of  a  common  language.  We  have  been  teach- 
ing English  here  for  more  than  fifteen  years,  and  it  is  as  near 
the  common  tongue  as  any  other,  but  many  of  the  high 
school  graduates  do  not  master  it,  and  prefer  to  talk  in 
Spanish  or  their  native  dialect.  It  is  a  queer  situation.  In 
going  from  one  province  to  another  one  finds  an  entirely  dif- 
ferent dialect  spoken,  so  different  that  the  Tagalog  cannot 
understand  the  Ilocano,  and  Bicol  is  Greek  to  the  residents 
of  Pangasinan.  Right  here  on  the  island  of  Luzon  there  are 
at  least  five  or  six  distinct  dialects  among  the  civilized  people, 
to  say  nothing  of  the  dialects  of  the  wild  tribes  of  the  north- 
ern hills.  Most  of  the  officials  and  well-to-do  Filipinos  speak 
Spanish.  It  is  rather  looked  upon  as  the  proper  language 
for  social  occasions.  Many  of  the  younger  generation  can 
speak  and  understand  English,  but  it  is  still  very  confusing, 
this  mixup  of  languages.  I  have  heard  Mr.  Hernandez,  at 
present  Assistant  Director  of  Agriculture,  try  to  talk  to  a 
crowd  of  farmers  within  twenty  miles  of  Manila,  and  he  had 
to  have  an  interpreter,  although  he  is  a  native  born  Filipino. 
He  is  a  Visayan,  and  although  he  speaks  Spanish,  Visayan 
and  Enghsh,  he  couldn't  make  those  Tagalogs  comprehend 
what  he  had  to  say  without  the  aid  of  an  interpreter.  You 
can  imagine  the  handicap  of  a  person  here  who  speaks  only 
one  language. 

Filipinos  are  unusually  polite.  They  wouldn't  speak 
harshly  even  to  an  enemy.  It  sometimes  keeps  one  guessing 
to  know  what  a  FiHpino  really  thinks  about  a  thing.  You 
certainly  can't  always  tell  by  what  he  says.  He  is  usually 
so  polite  that  if  he  knows  what  you  want  him  to  say  he  will 
be  pretty  sure  to  say  it.  He  is  too  blamed  polite  to  say 
anything  else.  But  this  doesn't  give  you  a  very  good  line 
on  what  he  really  thinks.     Trained  to  this  way  of  doing 


FILIPINOS.  95 


things  under  nearly  three  hundred  years  of  Spanish  rule,  I 
expect  the  American  idea  of  frankness  and  speaking  right 
out  was  quite  a  jolt  to  them.  They  really  haven't  got  used 
to  it  yet,  and  very  few  of  them  adopt  our  methods  in  this  par- 
ticular. They  think  we  are  rude.  A  FiUpino  would  be  po- 
lite to  a  man  if  he  was  going  to  hang  him  the  next  minute. 
The  American  is  not  so  particular.  They  evidently  think  we 
are  frank  to  the  verge  of  rudeness,  while  to  us  their  polite- 
ness and  intrigue  appears  to  closely  resemble  deceit. 

The  first  Americans  over  here,  largely  the  soldier  element, 
must  have  given  the  Filipino  some  queer  ideas  of  American 
customs.  Go  into  nearly  any  home  in  the  provinces  today 
and  you  will  hardly  be  seated  before  the  host  will  ask  you  if 
you  will  have  some  beer.  If  you  decline,  he  will  look  puz- 
zled, and  then  will  say :  ''Do  you  prefer  whiskey?''  If  you 
again  decline,  he  appears  at  his  wit's  end,  and  probably 
doubts  your  nationality.  His  last  resort  in  the  way  of  hos- 
pitality is  to  present  a  box  of  "Londres"  cigars,  and  if  they 
were  declined  the  poor  fellow  would  be  all  at  sea  and  would 
wonder  what  he  could  possibly  have  done  to  have  offended 
you,  for  he  has,  according  to  his  ideas,  gone  to  the  limit  of 
hospitality  for  Americans. 

They  are  a  musical  people.  Even  out  in  the  provinces 
there  are  fine  pianos  in  many  of  the  best  homes,  and  nearly 
every  little  town  or  barrio  has  its  brass  band.  They  have 
some  old  brass  horns,  a  few  clarinets  and  a  drum  or  two,  and 
away  they  go  every  "fiesta"  or  hoUday,  playing  ragtime  in 
great  shape.  The  Philippine  Constabulary  Band,  which  will 
soon  return  from  the  Exposition  at  San  Francisco,  is  one  of 
the  famous  bands  of  the  world.  If  any  of  you  attended  the 
Exposition  and  heard  that  band,  I  think  you  will  agree  with 
me.    When  at  home  they  give  concerts  nearly  every  night  on 


96  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

the  Luneta,  and  great  crowds  are  out  to  hear  the  music  when 
the  weather  is  fine. 

Have  I  told  you  how  the  Filipinos  dress?  The  women's 
dress  in  one  particular  has  a  decided  advantage  over  the 
kind  the  American  women  wear.  The  styles  here  do  not 
change.  A  dress  therefore  is  in  style  until  it  is  worn  out. 
There  is  some  sense  to  that.  The  skirts  all  have  a  long  train  ^ 
but  this  train  is  usually  wrapped  around  and  tucked  in  at  the 
hip.  They  seldom  let  the  train  drag.  I  can't  see  much 
sense  in  all  that  long  tail  to  a  skirt,  especially  when  they 
don't  use  it  even  for  display.  The  waists  are  of  stiff,  trans- 
parent ''jusi"  or  ^'pina"  cloth,  with  great  wide  butterfly 
sleeves  that  reach  about  to  the  elbow.  Then  there  is  the 
invariable  collar  of  the  same  material  worn  like  a  big  kerchief 
folded  diagonally,  the  points  fastened  in  front  and  the  wide 
part  at  the  back  of  the  neck.  It  is  a  stiff,  unwieldy  affair 
that  slips  around  and  has  to  be  constantly  pulled  into  place, 
but  no  Filipino  lady  would  be  fully  dressed  without  it.  It 
is  as  useless  as  the  train  to  the  skirt ;  but  it  is  the  style,  and 
the  style  doesn't  change,  so  it  has  something  in  its  favor. 
Some  women  wear  modern  French  heel  shoes.  Others  wear 
the  native  slipper  called  a  "chinela."  Now  this  is  about  as 
far  as  I  can  safely  go  with  a  description  of  the  ladies'  costume, 
so  we  will  talk  about  the  men. 

The  better  classes  of  the  men  dress  practically  the  same 
as  the  Americans — white  coat  and  trousers,  shirt,  collar, 
necktie,  shoes  and  sox.  The  "muchachos,"  or  house  boys, 
and  the  laborers  usually  wear  the  ^'camisa  chino,"  a  collar- 
less  shirt  with  the  tail  always  worn  outside  the  pants.  They 
say  that  is  the  coolest  and  most  comfortable  costume,  and 
that  it  was  worn  by  nearly  all  classes  of  men  until  the  Amer- 
icans came,  when  we  taught  them  to  tuck  their  shirt  tails 
inside  their  pants  and  be  nice  and  uncomfortable.    Filipinos 


FILIPINOS.  97 


call  a  coat  an  "Americana."  Many  of  the  "taos"  or  work- 
ing classes  out  in  the  fields  wear  only  a  shirt  and  pants, 
usually  red  pants,  and  a  wide,  cone-shaped  hat.  Country 
children  do  not  worry  much  about  clothes  until  they  are  at 
least  eight  or  ten  years  old,  especially  the  boys,  who  are 
satisfied  with  only  a  shirt  with  an  extremely  short  tail,  and 
seldom  consider  even  that  as  much  of  a  necessity. 

This  is  a  great  country  for  hats.  Nearly  every  province 
has  its  own  peculiar  kind  of  headdress.  The  men  wear 
everything  from  a  handkerchief  knotted  about  the  head,  up 
to  big  flaring  hats  that  are  actually  as  big  around  as  an 
ordinary  wash  tub.  Some  of  the  dress  hats,  made  from  the 
fiber  of  the  buri  palm  and  abaca,  are  very  fine,  fully  the 
equal  of  the  famous  Panama  hats,  and  of  much  lighter  weight. 
Some  very  expensive  hats  of  this  class  are  made  here.  Hat- 
making  is  one  of  the  few  profitable  industries  in  the  prov- 
inces. Many  of  these  best  hats  are  now  shipped  to  the 
United  States,  where  there  is  a  growing  demand  for  them. 
Phihppine  hand-embroidery  is  another  big  industry  that  is 
growing  rapidly.  Some  of  this  work  is  beautiful,  but  it 
takes  a  woman  to  go  into  raptures  about  it.  The  man  who 
has  paid  for  a  trunk  full  of  it  usually  fails  to  enthuse.  This 
class  of  work  was  formerly  very  cheap,  but  the  price  has  in- 
creased with  the  demand. 

Some  of  the  good  roads  boosters  at  home  would  be  de- 
lighted with  a  trip  through  these  islands.  Not  long  ago  I 
made  a  trip  up  to  Laoag,  in  Ilocos  Norte,  the  extreme  north- 
ern part  of  Luzon.  I  went  as  far  as  Bauang  Sur  by  rail,  and 
made  the  rest  of  the  journey  of  over  one  hundred  miles  by 
automobile.  The  roads  away  up  there  were  superb  except 
that  in  that  country  there  are  few  bridges.  The  big,  wide 
rivers  are  crossed  on  a  "balsa,"  or  bamboo  raft.  The  auto 
is  run  onto  this  frail  raft  and  natives  then  push  the  raft 


98  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

across  the  river  with  long  bamboo  poles.  Some  of  the  rivers 
we  crossed  in  this  manner  were  over  half  a  mile  wide.  Some 
streams  were  so  shallow  that  the  raft  couldn't  get  clear  to 
the  shore,  and  the  car  would  have  to  run  out  through  the 
shallow  water  to  meet  it.  The  car  would  hit  two  planks 
that  were  extended  from  the  raft  down  into  the  water,  and 
go  churning  up  onto  the  raft,  and  then  away  we  would  go 
for  the  distant  shore ;  planks  would  be  again  extended  shore- 
ward when  we  reached  the  shallow  water,  and  out  we  would 
plow  on  our  own  gasoHne  again.  Part  of  the  trip  was  made 
after  night,  and  crossing  those  streams  seemed  rather  risky, 
but  we  met  with  no  accident. 

There  are  but  few  birds  in  the  Islands,  but  many,  many 
flowers.  Roses  are  not  so  fragrant  as  those  at  home.  The 
flowers  of  great  fragrance  are  strangers  to  us,  the  ''ilang- 
ilang,"  the  ^^dama  de  noche,"  and  the  "sampaguita  de 
madras,"  all  wonderfully  fragrant.  The  Philippines  are  not 
open  to  the  fierce  charge  some  one  has  made  against  Japan 
by  claiming  that  Japan  was  a  country  ''where  the  flowers 
had  no  odor,  the  birds  no  song,  the  men  no  honor,  and  the 
women  no  virtue."  We  are  a  good  deal  better  than  that 
here  in  the  Philippines,  even  if  some  folks  at  home  do  think 
we  are  over  here  among  the  ''heathen."  If  they  could  be 
permitted  to  travel  around  this  country  they  might  change 
their  minds  about  who  was  the  heathen. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

BEAUTIFUL  BAGUIO. 

Manila,  January  10,  1916. 

I  have  just  returned  from  an  eight-day  trip  to  Baguio, 
the  beautiful  town  high  up  among  the  Benguet  Mountains  of 
northern  Luzon.  I  like  Baguio  because  the  climate  there  is 
cool  and  the  scenery  is  beautiful.  The  town  was  once  the 
summer  capital  of  the  Philippines,  but  now  is  more  of  a 
pleasure  resort.  Baguio  is  located  among  the  pine  trees  up 
among  the  blue  hills,  and  its  altitude  gives  the  people  of 
this  tropic  land  a  chance  for  a  breath  of  the  Temperate  Zone 
without  leaving  the  Islands.  It  seems  remarkable  that  an 
altitude  of  only  about  5,000  feet  could  make  such  a  change 
of  temperature.  The  weather  there  except  for  certain  pe- 
riods of  excessive  rains,  is  delightful,  cool,  and  pleasant. 

Baguio  is  over  150  miles  north  of  Manila,  and  can  be 
reached  by  automobile,  the  journey  requiring  eight  to  ten 
hours.  The  town  is  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  high  moun- 
tain ridges,  some  of  which  tower  nearly  8,000  feet  high.  It 
was  at  one  time  the  summer  capital,  and  now  the  teachers  of 
the  public  schools  hold  an  annual  meeting  there  during  the 
vacation  season.  There  is  a  steam  laundry,  electric  Hght 
plant,  good  hotels,  water  and  sewer  system,  telegraph  and 
telephone  communication,  fire  brigade,  hospital,  library,  ob- 
servatory and  weather  station,  theaters,  clubs,  golf  links, 
race-track,  polo  grounds,  baseball  diamonds,  athletic  fields, 
and  all  the  conveniences  of  a  modern  city,  yet  all  located 
away  up  in  northern  Luzon,  where  the  Igorots  and  other 
semi-civiHzed  tribes  roam  the  hills. 

(99) 


100  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

This  year  one  of  the  attractions  at  Baguio  was  the  big 
Norther  Luzon  Fair  and  Carnival,  which  I  attended.  I  as- 
sisted in  judging  the  agricultural  exhibits  and  awarding  the 
prizes.  It  was  a  big  fair.  Seven  of  the  mountain  and  north- 
em  provinces  participated.  It  was  particularly  interesting 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  wild  tribes  of  the  mountain  coun- 
try were  induced  to  take  part  in  the  fair,  and  had  many  ex- 
hibits of  agricultural  products  and  their  queer  industrial 
work.  These  savages  remind  me  very  much  of  our  American 
Indians.  They  have  much  the  same  dances,  love  gaudy 
colors,  wear  feathers  in  their  straight  black  hair,  love  beads, 
bone  and  shell  ornaments,  poimd  brass  gongs  and  drums  for 
dance  music,  Uke  *' booze,"  and  in  many  other  ways  resemble 
our  noble  red  men.  These  people  were  as  great  a  curiosity  to 
the  Fihpinos  as  they  were  to  the  Americans  who  visited  the 
fair.  I  guess  I  have  stated  before  that  there  are  about  eight 
miUion  civiHzed,  Christian  Fihpinos,  and  probably  all  told 
less  than  a  miUion  of  the  wild  people  of  all  tribes ;  but  when- 
ever the  PhiHppines  are  mentioned  back  home  our  people 
are  sure  to  think  of  the  freaks  and  savages,  and  to  intimate 
that  the  Phihppines  are  made  up  entirely  of  that  kind  of 
people,  which  is  a  rank  injustice  to  the  Filipinos.  These 
wild  people  are  not  Fihpinos.  They  are  not  so  called  here, 
nor  so  recognized.  The  civihzed  Filipinos,  who  are  scattered 
all  over  the  Islands,  and  who  do  the  farming,  manufacturing, 
merchandising  and  professional  work,  are  a  pretty  good  class 
of  folks.  They  do  not  often  come  in  contact  with  these  wild 
tribes,  and  at  a  fair  such  as  the  one  at  Baguio,  the  Filipinos 
were  as  interested  as  any  of  the  other  spectators  when  the 
tribes  danced  or  performed  other  antics. 

Baguio  is  a  fine  place.  This  trip  was  my  second  visit 
there.  I  would  like  to  spend  an  extended  vacation  there 
some  time.    The  nights  are  quite  cool.    One  night  while 


BEAUTIFUL  BAGUIO. 101 

there  the  air  was  so  cool  that  I  could  ''see  my  breath." 
There  is  no  freezing  weather  at  Baguio,  and  beautiful  roses 
bloom  there  the  year  round.  There  was  a  big  rose  bush  that 
climbed  over  the  porch  at  the  hotel  where  I  stayed,  and  it 
was  full  of  big  creamy  white  roses,  and  was  a  beautiful  sight, 
and  this,  too,  during  the  first  week  in  January.  I  enjoyed 
sitting  out  on  that  porch  of  an  evening,  heels  elevated  on 
the  rail,  while  I  smoked  and  enjoyed  the  fragrance  of  those 
roses.  Other  thin-blooded  Americans,  who  had  been  in  the 
Islands  longer,  were  huddled  around  a  roaring  log  fire  inside 
the  building,  warming  up.  I  hadn't  felt  any  cool  air  for  so 
long  that  I  was  perfectly  content  to  sit  out  on  the  porch  with 
the  roses,  for  the  rose  is  my  favorite  flower ;  and  roses  cer- 
tainly grow  to  perfection  at  Baguio. 

There  were  big  doings  the  last  night  we  were  there — a 
coronation  ball  for  the  ''Empress"  of  the  Carnival  and  Fair. 
Each  province  held  a  voting  contest  and  elected  a  "queen," 
and  from  these  seven  queens  another  general  voting  contest 
was  held  to  select  an  "Empress."  A  little  Igorot  girl  about 
fifteen  years  old  won  the  title  of  Empress,  and  they  rigged 
her  up  in  silks,  satins  and  jewels  and  crowned  her  "Empress 
of  Northern  Luzon  "  the  night  of  the  coronation  ball.  Amer- 
icans in  full  evening  dress,  officers  in  dress  uniform,  ladies  in 
beautiful  costumes,  all  did  honor  to  the  Httle  Igorot  Empress 
when  she  was  crowned  on  a  gorgeous  throne  surrounded  by 
members  of  her  court  attired  in  much  tinsel  and  spangles. 
She  led  the  grand  march,  on  the  arm  of  Col.  Nathorst,  of  the 
Constabulary.  After  she  had  been  crowned  and  was  seated 
on  her  throne  among  all  the  high  lords  and  ladies,  a  band  of 
little  Igorot  boys,  in  native  costume,  came  out  and  danced 
for  her  amusement,  and  many  other  charming  scenes  were 
depicted.  It  was  a  great  night  for  the  wild  folks,  and  the 
sights  fairly  made  their  eyes  bulge.    I  was  glad  the  Httle 


102  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

lady  won.  The  other  *' queens"  who  failed  to  land,  many  of 
them  handsome  Filipino  women,  beautifully  attired,  acted 
as  her  maids.  The  whole  ceremony  was  concluded  with  a 
grand  ball.   No  ceremony  is  complete  out  here  without  a  ball. 

The  motorcycle,  automobile  and  horse-races  were  special 
features  during  the  fair.  The  motor  cars  started  at  the  foot 
of  the  zig-zag  road  which  climbs  the  mountain  to  Baguio, 
made  the  big  climb,  then  came  down  into  the  town  and  went 
once  around  the  race-track.  It  was  a  grilhng  test  for  a 
car,  but  some  good  records  were  made.  There  was  plenty  of 
excitement,  and  several  accidents,  but  fortunately  no  fatal- 
ities. Cars  from  all  over  the  lowlands  fairly  crowded  the 
town  during  this  fair.  Many  of  the  drivers  were  not  used  to 
mountain  driving,  and  every  day  one  or  two  cars  would  go 
over  some  bluff  and  land  down  in  a  canyon,  and  have  to  be 
hauled  up  with  a  block  and  tackle.  But  it  was  a  jolly,  fun- 
loving  crowd,  and  there  were  no  serious  accidents,  due  more 
to  good  luck  than  to  good  driving.  Everybody  seemed  to 
have  a  good  time. 

In  getting  around  town  the  streets  are  much  like  those  of 
Manitou,  Colorado,  uphill  and  down.  The  first  few  days  I 
was  there  the  muscles  of  my  legs  were  so  sore  from  the  un- 
accustomed labor  of  hill  climbing  that  I  could  hardly  walk, 
but,  Uke  other  mountain  resorts,  there  is  so  much  to  see  and 
so  many  places  to  go  that  one  goes  anyhow,  no  matter  how 
tired,  stiff  or  sore.  There  are  many  miles  of  first-class  roads 
in  Baguio.  Good  horse  trails  lead  through  the  mountains 
to  the  neighboring  provinces.  One  of  these  trails  that  leads 
through  the  mountains  to  the  north,  reaches  an  altitude  of 
7,500  feet,  where  oak  trees  are  found  among  the  pines. 

The  pine  trees  are  one  of  the  sights  of  these  tropic  islands. 
Everywhere  on  the  lowlands  there  is  the  typical  tropic  vege- 
tation, but  at  Baguio  there  are  magnificent  old  pine  forests, 


BEAUTIFUL  BAGUIO.  103 

not  just  a  few  runty  pines,  but  groves  of  tall,  stately  trees. 
Some  of  the  places  of  interest  are  the  market  where  the  Igorot 
buys  his  dog-meat,  commonly  called  the  dog  market.  The 
crowds  on  market  days  are  a  show  of  themselves.  Then 
there  is  beautiful  Camp  John  Hay,  an  army  post,  where  the 
natural  ampitheatre  is  a  sight  worth  seeing.  There  is  the 
Teachers'  Camp,  Bishop  Brent's  Baguio  School  for  Boys, 
Constabulary  Hill,  where  young  Americans  and  Filipinos  are 
trained  for  officers  in  the  Constabulary  service,  the  Jesuit 
Observatory,  the  Country  Club,  the  Mansion  House,  many 
pretty  homes,  flowers,  parks  and  driveways. 

A  trail  leads  from  Baguio  up  to  Mount  Santo  Tomas,  a 
climb  that  is  fairly  easy  as  mountain  climbing  goes.  To 
those  who  do  not  care  to  walk,  the  trip  can  be  made  on 
native  ponies.  This  mountain  attains  a  height  of  about 
7,500  feet,  and  from  its  summit  one  can  obtain  an  inspiring 
view  clear  out  to  Lingayen  Gulf,  the  China  Sea,  the  moun- 
tain ranges  and  the  flat  lowlands.  Another  trip  that  many 
tourists  make  is  the  pony  journey  of  about  thirty  miles  to 
Haight's  place  up  in  the  mountains,  where  it  is  so  cold  that 
ice  forms  quite  often,  giving  one  a  touch  of  winter  in  dena- 
tured doses. 

The  Bua  School  for  Igorot  Girls  is  one  of  the  interesting 
places  near  Baguio.  It  is  conmionly  known  as  *'Mrs.  Kelly's 
School."  Mrs.  Kelly,  they  say,  taught  the  youngsters  to 
say  ''Good  morning,  Mrs.  Kelly,"  when  they  came  to  her 
school,  as  a  first  step  in  learning  English  and  politeness. 
They  soon  mastered  the  sentence,  but  thought  the  whole 
thing  was  the  American  salutation,  and  failed  to  drop  the 
''Mrs.  Kelly  "  part  of  it  when  addressing  other  folks.  You  can 
well  imagine  the  surprise  of  American  soldiers  or  miners  up  in 
that  country  when  these  school  youngsters  would  meet  them 
and  bow  to  them  and  say :  "Good  morning,  Mrs.  Kelly!" 


104  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

One  feature  of  the  fair  that  greatly  interested  the  wild 
folks  was  the  daylight  fireworks.  Big  rockets  were  sent  up 
into  the  air  and  exploded  with  a  loud  report,  releasing  Httle 
parachutes  from  which  flags  and  other  novelties  were  sus- 
pended. Nothing  in  sight  until  the  big  report  up  in  the  air, 
and  then  the  transformation.  There  was  a  good  deal  of  dis- 
cussion among  these  simple  folks  every  time  a  rocket  ex- 
ploded, probably  trying  to  figm-e  out  how  it  happened.  New 
Year's  Eve,  at  midnight,  there  was  also  a  big  display  of  fire- 
works. I  was  standing  near  a  bunch  of  Igorots  when  a  par- 
ticularly brilliant  rocket  exploded  with  a  flash  and  a  roar 
away  up  in  the  sky.  One  of  the  crowd  yelled  ''Haysus!" 
which  is  somewhat  of  a  cuss  word,  but  not  spelled  exactly  as 
it  is  pronounced  in  Spanish.  He  was  probably  excusable, 
for  it  was  a  rather  startling  explosion,  and  his  vocabulary 
was  no  doubt  limited. 

I  went  up  to  Baguio  in  the  Bureau  motor  car  with  Di- 
rector Hernandez.  Left  Manila  at  4 :  30  in  the  morning  and 
arrived  at  Baguio  at  3  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  It  was  a 
long  run,  but  interesting  all  the  way.  We  left  Manila  the 
day  after  Christmas  and  got  back  the  evening  of  January  3. 
I  enjoyed  Baguio  immensely.  It  was  the  first  time  I  have 
been  really  cool  in  nearly  two  years,  and  even  then  I  wasn't 
cold.  It  is  so  warm  here  now  that  I  hate  to  go  up  to  our 
room,  so  am  sitting  at  my  ofiice  where  there  is  a  fan  to  help 
out  while  I  write.  I  expect  it  will  be  cool  enough  back  home 
for  people  to  "see  their  breath,"  by  the  time  this  letter 
reaches  there.  It  is  usually  that  way  sometime  during  Feb- 
ruary. When  it  comes  to  real  winter,  Baguio  is  only  an  im- 
itation, but  it  is  a  lovely  place,  nevertheless,  and  doubly 
appreciated  because  it  is  located  right  here  in  the  Tropics. 
I  am  a  booster  for  Baguio.  I  would  like  to  live  up  there  for 
a  year  if  I  had  the  opportunity. 


- 

Iftfe  .^.^-           -2^ 

■u 

m-"'^""" Jk^^     ~                                      ^^B||ag||^nHB^^^^B 

1 

"BARRIO"  OR  VILLAGE  SCENE 

SHOWING  TYPICAL  HARD-SURFACED  ROAD 


PRIMITIVE  TRANSPORTATION 

MARKETING  SUGAR-CANE  IN  BANCAS    (NATIVE  CANOES) 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

JOURNALISM  IN  THE  ORIENT. 

Manila,  March  20,  1916. 
The  following  is  my  address,  entitled  "Journalism  in  the 
Orient,"  which  was  prepared  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Jesse  L. 
Napier,  president  of  the  Kansas  Editorial  Association,  to  be 
read  at  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Association  to  be  held  at 
Lawrence,  Kansas,  May  5  and  6,  1916 : 

''What  can  I  say  to  you  of  the  Orient  that  will  interest 
you?  I  wish  I  knew.  Naturally  you  are  interested  in  news- 
papers, and  possibly  a  few  words  about  the  newspapers  over 
here  might  give  you  some  idea  of  how  the  game  is  played  on 
the  other  side  of  the  world. 

''Manila  has  three  big  daily  newspapers  printed  in  English, 
the  Bulletin  and  the  Cahlenews- American,  morning  dailies, 
and  the  Manila  Times,  an  afternoon  paper.  There  are  sev- 
eral dailies  printed  in  Spanish  and  Tagalog,  the  Vanguardia, 
El  Ideal,  Consolidacion  Nadonal,  and  several  others,  but  the 
dailies  printed  in  English  are  the  only  ones  that  have  special 
interest  to  the  American  in  the  Philippines. 

"Manila  is  a  city  of  nearly  300,000  people,  yet  the  Amer- 
ican population  is  much  less  than  10,000.  It  is  from  this 
population  that  the  three  big  daily  papers  receive  most  of 
their  support.  How  they  manage  to  live  and  prosper  is  a 
mystery.  Think  of  the  average  town  of  less  than  10,000 
people  in  Kansas  supporting  three  big  daily  papers!  These 
papers  must  be  quite  a  burden  on  the  merchants,  as  they 
advertise  liberally  in  all  three  papers,  and  naturally  duplicate 
their  advertising,  as  the  papers  all  reach  practically  the  same 
readers.  Of  course  in  a  town  of  300,000  people  the  adver- 
tising field  is  much  greater  than  in  a  Kansas  country  town, 
but  with  a  field  of  merchants  made  up  of  people  represent- 
ing all  nationalities,  including  conservative  Clunese,  the  fife 

(105) 


106  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

of  the  advertising  soKcitor  is  not  all  roses.  Even  the  Chi- 
nese have  two  papers  that  minister  strictly  to  the  needs  of  the 
Chinese  community. 

''Besides  these  daily  papers,  there  are  several  weekly  pa- 
pers, valuable  or  otherwise,  depending  largely  on  the  view- 
point of  the  reader. 

"When  I  first  arrived  here,  most  of  the  papers  were  hand 
set.  It  seems  ahnost  impossible  that  a  big  daily  paper  should 
be  set  by  hand  in  this  day  of  improved  machinery,  but  labor 
is  very  cheap  over  here,  and  machines  cost  money.  The 
typesetters  are  said  to  be  very  fast  and  accurate,  and  I  have 
been  told  that  some  FiUpinos  who  do  not  know  a  word  of 
English  can  set  English  copy  rapidly  and  accurately,  merely 
following  copy.  They  couldn't  do  it  if  it  was  manuscript 
copy  of  some  Kansas  editors  I  know,  whose  'hen  tracks' 
would  puzzle  a  Philadelphia  lawyer.  Within  the  past  year 
the  papers  have  installed  a  few  machines,  and  more  are  on 
the  way.  Labor,  no  matter  how  cheap,  can  hardly  hope  to 
compete  with  a  modern  linotype. 

"The  American  dailies  maintain  a  sort  of  cable  news  serv- 
ice, supplemented  by  vivid  imagination  and  also  by  the  news- 
papers that  come  by  boat  about  every  ten  days,  but  on 
world  news  and  topics  of  general  interest  they  are  certainly 
fearfully  and  wonderfulty  made.  Cable  service  costs  money. 
The  average  man  'editing  telegraph'  on  a  country  daily  in 
Kansas  doesn't  know  the  first  principles  about  'padding.' 
It  requires  a  genius  to  take  a  sLx-word  code  cable  and  expand 
it  into  a  story  that  will  cover  the  front  page.  Scare  heads 
and  wood  type  are  necessary  to  carry  out  the  illusion,  which 
lends  a  tinge  of  'yellow'  to  the  Manila  newspapers.  The 
average  evening  daily  in  Kansas  carries  more  general  news 
in  one  issue  than  the  Manila  daihes  have  in  a  week.  This 
is  not  said  disparagingly  of  the  Manila  papers,  either.  They 
do  the  very  best  they  can  under  the  serious  handicap  of  be- 
ing so  far  away  from  the  seat  of  world  news. 

"This  dearth  of  general  news  causes  another  queer  situa- 
tion— the  magnified  importance  given  to  political  news. 
Mail  may  be  late  from  the  States.  The  short  cable  story 
has  a  limit  of  expansion.     The  paper  must  go  to  press,  and 


JOURNALISM  IN  THE  ORIENT.  107 

in  despair  the  managing  editor  turns  to  insigniiScant  local 
matters  and  plays  them  up  to  a  finish,  especially  things  of  a 
poHtical  nature,  for  the  Manila  press  has  always  been  noted 
for  roasting  everything  political  that  came  within  reach. 
Their  news-gathering  system  seems  woefully  lacking  in  many 
instances  where  there  would  have  been  some  lively  hustling 
in  the  average  newspaper  office  in  America.  A  big  fire  oc- 
curred out  at  Pasig,  a  suburb  connected  with  Manila  by  a 
telephone  and  trolly  line.  A  great  number  of  houses  were 
destroyed  and  many  people  were  rendered  homeless.  Three 
days  later  a  short  paragraph  concerning  the  fire  appeared  in 
the  daily  papers.  I  witnessed  a  train  wreck  at  Calamba  in 
which  several  freight  cars  were  smashed  into  kindling  wood 
and  the  conductor  was  instantly  killed.  It  took  two  days 
for  a  brief  notice  of  the  wreck  to  appear  in  the  papers,  yet 
Calamba  is  less  than  fifty  miles  from  Manila.  This  week 
the  dead  body  of  a  man  was  found  in  the  Pasig  River  in  the 
heart  of  the  town.  Scare  head?  No,  indeed.  The  event 
was  covered  in  a  six-line  paragraph  in  an  obscure  section  of 
the  paper.  Other  local  events  get  only  passing  notice ;  but 
no  political  event  of  the  most  minor  importance  escapes  the 
eagle  eye  of  the  reporters,  and  if  there  are  no  events  in  this 
line  there  is  a  suspicion  that  they  are  sometimes  made  to 
order. 

''Their  political  news  and  editorial  comment  is  not  only 
highly  colored  but  also  intensely  personal.  Every  newcomer 
has  to  stand  the  gaff  of  rank  personal  criticism.  I  certainly 
got  my  share  of  it.  For  a  full  year  they  hammered  me  un- 
mercifully. At  first  I  was  quite  excited  about  being  criti- 
cised and  misrepresented  so  persistently.  At  one  time  I 
took  a  reporter  to  task  for  a  front  page  story  in  which  he  had 
willfully  misrepresented  me  and  had  withheld  other  facts 
that  I  knew  he  had  in  his  possession.  When  I  asked  him 
why  he  didn't  write  the  facts,  he  laughingly  replied,  'Oh, 
that  would  have  spoiled  my  story.'  When  it  gradually 
dawned  on  me  that  the  papers  were  not  misinformed,  but 
were  unfair  and  misleading  from  choice,  I  lost  interest  in 
their  attacks,  and  in  time  they  let  up ;  but  it  was  an  inter- 
esting experience  to  me  while  it  lasted.     They  have  treated 


108 A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

me  very  kindly  since  then,  and  have  commended  my  work 
upon  many  occasions. 

**  In  speaking  of  the  press  of  the  Philippines,  my  remarks 
have  been  confined  to  the  Manila  press,  which  is  in  a  sense 
the  Phihppine  press.  Outside  of  Manila,  small  papers  are 
printed  at  Cebu,  Iloilo,  and  several  other  points,  but  they 
are  purely  of  local  character,  poorly  printed,  and  poorly 
edited.  The  PhiHppines  cover  a  territory  nearly  twice  as 
large  as  Kansas,  and  larger  than  New  York  and  the  New 
England  States  combined,  yet  very  few  newspapers  in  Eng- 
lish are  printed  in  Manila  and  the  provinces  combined. 

"This  can  be  accounted  for  largely  by  the  fact  that  the 
common  people  are  poorly  educated,  that  there  is  lack  of  a 
common  language,  and  that  mail  and  transportation  facili- 
ties are  irregular  and  uncertain  in  a  group  of  islands  that  are 
scattered  over  a  territory  nearly  a  thousand  miles  in  extent 
from  north  to  south  and  nearly  that  area  from  east  to  west. 

"In  January,  1915,  at  the  suggestion  of  Vice-Governor 
Martin,  I  started  a  Httle  farm  paper,  called  the  Philippine 
Farmer.  Many  of  you  have  no  doubt  received  copies  of  it 
during  the  year.  It  is  a  three-column  quarto,  set  in  eight- 
point  and  printed  on  book  paper.  It  is  printed  by  the  Bu- 
reau of  Printing  at  government  expense,  and  is  sent  free  to 
all  members  of  the  Phihppine  Agricultural  Society.  The 
first  number  was  an  edition  of  10,000  copies,  and  we  are  now 
issuing  15,000  copies  each  month,  and  the  hst  is  growing.  It 
is  probably  the  largest  and  best  distributed  list  in  the 
Islands,  and  goes  into  every  province.  I  see  the  habits  of  a 
lifetime  are  strong.  You  will  note  that  I  have  just  been 
bragging  about  'circulation.'  Editing  this  publication  is 
merely  a  'side  line'  in  connection  with  my  other  work,  but 
serves  to  keep  my  'hand  in'  at  the  business  I  have  followed 
so  long. 

"In  conclusion,  I  don't  care  to  engage  in  flattery  nor  to 
hand  out  any  '  bunc '  to  the  boys  back  home,  but  I  honestly 
beheve  that  there  are  more  good  newspapers  and  good  news- 
paper men  in  Kansas,  men  who  know  the  game,  who  know 
how  to  think  and  how  to  express  their  thoughts,  who  com- 
bine good  business  and  editorial  abihty  with  good  horse  sense 


JOURNALISM  IN  THE  ORIENT. 109 

and  a  spirit  of  fairness  and  decency,  than  in  any  other  ter- 
ritory of  equal  extent  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  at  least  any 
part  of  it  that  I  have  visited  in  my  travels. 

"While  not  exactly  homesick,  I  confess  to  a  mighty  long- 
ing to  be  back  among  the  old  crowd  once  again,  a  longing 
which  I  think  I  will  gratify  before  long,  so  until  that  happy 
day  for  me,  good  wishes  and  good  luck  to  you  all.'' 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

MISCELLANEOUS  IMPEESSIONS. 

Manila,  March  25,  1916. 

By  the  time  this  letter  is  pubHshed  it  will  be  nearly  two 
years  since  we  left  Kansas.  Who  would  have  thought  we 
would  remain  in  the  Philippines  that  long?  You  can  realize 
by  this  that  the  Islands  are  not  such  a  bad  place  to  Uve  in, 
or  we  would  have  been  home  long  ago.  The  weather  here  is 
really  delightful,  except  that  it  is  a  little  too  warm  at  times, 
but  even  then  it  is  nothing  like  the  hot  winds  of  Kansas  in 
mid-summer.  Here  there  is  no  bluster,  no  blow,  just  gentle, 
bahnly  breeze.  No  violent  rain-storms.  There  is  seldom 
any  thunder  here.  Rain  comes  easily,  shower  after  shower, 
without  storms  or  electric  displays.  When  nature  concludes 
to  give  Kansas  a  rain  she  usually  throws  a  fit  just  before  and 
often  during  the  event.  The  climate  here  seems  to  be  just 
one  long  month  of  June,  at  least  for  the  two  years  we  have 
been  here.  When  the  trade  winds  shift  twice  each  year 
there  is  a  little  flurry  and  an  occasional  typhoon,  but  never 
any  cold  weather,  nor  raw  weather,  not  even  cool  weather.  It 
is  fine  to  live  in  a  country  where  the  climate  suits  your 
clothing.  A  Filipino  would  have  about  as  much  use  for  an 
overcoat  as  a  Kansan  would  have  for  a  diving  suit. 

The  houses  here  are  the  queerest  sort  of  combination  you 
could  imagine,  the  strongest  and  the  frailest  probably  ever 
seen  in  any  land.  The  old  Spaniards  built  for  keeps.  The 
buildings  they  erected  are  here  yet,  some  of  them  nearly  300 
years  old.  The  churches  they  built  are  regular  forts.  Some 
of  these  old  Spanish  buildings  have  walls  fully  five  feet 

(110) 


MISCELLANEOUS  IMPRESSIONS.  Ill 

thick,  of  solid  concrete  or  masonry.  Right  beside  these 
structures  may  be  seen  frail  little  nipa  shacks  supported  by 
bamboo  poles  and  of  bamboo  framework.  They  are  not  so 
frail  as  they  appear,  however,  because  bamboo  is  a  very 
tough  material.  You  have  probably  observed  that  fact  if 
you  ever  had  occasion  to  throughly  test  your  split  bamboo 
fishing  rod. 

And  there  is  some  bamboo  over  here.  It  grows  nearly 
everywhere  in  the  low  places,  and  attains  a  great  size  com- 
pared with  the  bamboo  poles  we  see  at  home.  I  have  seen 
thousands  of  bamboo  poles  that  appeared  fully  fifty  feet  long, 
and  as  big  around  at  the  base  as  a  joint  of  ordinary  stovepipe. 
That  kind  of  a  pole  would  hold  the  biggest  catfish  that  any 
fisherman  ever  dreamed  was  in  the  Cottonwood  at  Cedar 
Point.  This  is  truly  the  home  of  the  bamboo.  People  oc- 
casionally call  the  Philippines  the  '^ bamboo"  government, 
and  refer  to  the  currency  here  as  '' bamboo"  money.  The 
country  could  hardly  get  along  without  bamboo.  It  is  used 
in  hundreds  of  ways,  and  is  the  lightest,  strongest  material 
obtainable. 

They  have  bamboo  houses,  bamboo  beds,  tables  and  chairs, 
bamboo  harrows  and  other  farm  tools.  They  saw  off  a  sec- 
tion of  bamboo  and  use  it  for  a  water  bucket.  Sometimes 
they  punch  out  the  connection  between  the  joints  and  have  a 
huge  tube  ten  feet  long  in  which  they  carry  water.  Bamboo 
is  used  for  fences,  floors,  rafts,  outriggers,  bridges,  combs, 
carts,  chairs,  forks,  and  many  other  tools,  and  tender  bam- 
boo sprouts  are  made  into  an  excellent  salad.  In  fact,  I 
can't  begin  to  tell  you  all  the  uses  of  bamboo  in  this  country. 
There  is  nothing  like  it  at  home. 

This  is  quite  an  old  country  compared  with  most  states 
in  the  Union.  The  Spaniards  were  here  and  had  churches, 
towns,  farms,  and  their  kind  of  civilization,  nearly  two  hun- 


112  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

dred  years  before  states  like  Kansas  or  Iowa  were  even  heard 
of.  Kansas  has  been  a  sort  of  melting  pot  for  people  from 
all  over  the  United  States.  The  Philippines  has  served  much 
the  same  pm'pose  from  a  world  standpoint.  There  are  Eng- 
lish, Spaniards,  Irish,  American,  East  Indian,  Turks,  Ger- 
mans, French,  Italian,  Japanese,  Chinese,  Russians,  Africans, 
Arabs,  South  Sea  Islanders;  in  fact,  you  can  hardly  think 
of  a  country  not  represented  here.  And  they  are  quite  wide- 
awake folks,  too.  They  have  to  be  to  ever  get  this  far  away 
from  home. 

The  Chinese  here  in  Manila  give  the  authorities  no  end  of 
trouble  by  attempting  to  smuggle  opium.  Within  the  past 
year  I  should  estimate  that  over  $150,000  worth  of  opium 
has  been  captured  and  confiscated  in  the  port  of  Manila 
alone.  There  is  big  money  in  the  business  if  they  succeed, 
and  they  take  aU  sorts  of  chances.  Only  last  week  $30,000 
worth  of  opium  was  captured  by  the  secret  service  men  in 
one  haul.  The  smugglers  attempt  to  bring  the  dope  into  the 
port  in  tins,  in  wine  casks,  in  automobile  tires,  in  belts  on 
their  persons,  and  hundreds  of  other  ways.  I  presume  they 
succeed  in  getting  a  lot  of  it  past  the  secret  service  men,  but 
every  once  in  a  while  they  get  a  jolt  that  reduces  their  profits, 
besides  having  to  serve  a  prison  sentence.  I  had  the  pleasure 
of  riding  around  over  the  bay  one  evening  in  the  fast  launch 
of  Captain  Hawkins,  of  the  secret  service.  We  were  out 
until  past  midnight.  This  little  launch  is  silent  and  runs 
like  a  streak  of  Hghtning.  She  carries  no  lights.  I  wasn't 
even  permitted  to  fight  a  cigar  while  on  board.  We  were 
here,  there,  and  all  over  the  harbor,  past  big  black  ships 
that  loomed  fike  huge  sky-scrapers,  in  and  out  among  the 
smaller  craft,  out  past  the  breakwater,  back  by  way  of  the 
Pasig  River,  and  into  the  bay  again  by  way  of  the  channel 
at  Engineer's  Island.     It  was  fun  for  me,  but  I  presume  it 


MISCELLANEOUS  IMPRESSIONS.  113 

gets  to  be  a  good  deal  like  business  to  the  men  who  keep  up 
the  work  night  after  night.  One  or  two  boats  patrol  the 
bay  all  night  long,  and  every  ship  that  docks  or  anchors  has 
to  stand  a  rigid  inspection,  and  yet  the  Chino  puts  one  over 
every  once  in  a  while.  If  not,  they  would  have  quit  the 
game  long  ago. 

This  is  quite  a  country  for  gambUng,  especially  on  cock- 
fights. They  tell  the  story  of  how  a  lot  of  American  sailors 
from  a  battleship  got  trimmed  at  this  game  over  at  Cavite, 
and  what  they  did  about  it.  Having  obtained  shore  leave, 
they  of  course  visited  the  cockpit.  It  looked  like  a  sporting 
chance,  and  they  bet  rather  heavily.  As  usual  when  buck- 
ing the  other  fellow's  game,  they  lost.  They  went  back  to 
their  ship  rather  crestfallen  and  sat  around  quite  despondent, 
until  one  of  their  number  evolved  a  brilliant  idea  when  he  re- 
membered that  the  crew  had  a  pet  eagle  on  board  as  a  mascot. 
They  trained  their  old  eagle  for  several  days  and  then  sent 
some  of  the  boys  ashore,  instructed  to  spread  the  news  that 
some  of  the  chumps  on  board  had  an  eagle  that  they  wanted 
to  pit  against  the  best  fighting  rooster  in  Cavite.  Those  who 
went  ashore  ridiculed  the  idea  of  their  comrades  on  purpose, 
intimated  that  they  must  be  locoed  to  think  of  matching  an 
old  eagle  against  a  game  cock  armed  with  a  metal  dagger. 
The  natives  therefore  jumped  at  the  challenge,  and  a  fight 
was  matched.  The  sailors  pooled  their  money  and  gave  it 
all  to  the  two  or  three  sailors  who  were  supposed  to  be 
chumps  enough  to  back  their  eagle.  This  money  was  all 
finally  placed  on  the  eagle,  but  the  sailors  hooted  the  idea 
that  the  old  bird  could  win,  for  its  effect  on  the  native  sports. 
They  winked  and  declared  that  the  eagle  couldn't  fight,  and 
that  the  rooster  would  fix  him  at  the  first  pass.  Some  of 
them  even  bet  a  little  money  on  the  rooster  just  to  keep  up 
appearances.    When  the  money  was  all  up  they  started  the 


114  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

fight.  The  rooster  pranced  around  and  made  a  vicious  pass. 
The  eagle  merely  pushed  out  a  wing  and  walked  a  step  or 
two  rather  awkwardly.  There  was  all  kinds  of  hilarity 
among  the  native  sports  over  the  prospect  of  easy  money. 
The  rooster  was  a  game  fighter  and  mussed  the  eagle  up 
until  the  old  bird  got  mad.  Then  on  one  of  his  rushes  the 
old  eagle  reached  out  one  claw  and  cHnched  his  foxy  opponent 
and  with  the  other  foot  pulled  Mr.  Rooster's  head  off,  and 
the  fight  was  over.  The  eagle  wasn't  much  for  looks,  but  he 
got  results,  and  the  boys  proudly  carried  him  back  to  the 
boat,  and  also  carried  back  all  the  money  they  had  lost  on 
the  previous  fight,  with  a  little  added  for  interest.  It  was 
some  time  before  the  natives  learned  that  a  job  had  been 
put  up  on  them,  and  that  the  sailors  had  been  training  their 
eagle  to  pull  chickens'  heads  off  for  fully  two  weeks  before 
the  fight.  That  is  the  story  as  it  was  told  to  me.  I  can't 
vouch  for  it  any  further  than  that.  If  there  is  any  moral  to 
the  tale,  it  is  that  although  you  can't  beat  a  man  at  his  own 
game,  it  is  sometimes  possible  to  start  a  game  of  your  own. 
Trust  an  American  sailor  for  that. 

I  saw  a  sight  the  other  day  that  beat  the  old  yarn  about 
the  fellow  who  went  to  mill  on  horseback,  with  a  grist  of 
wheat  in  one  end  of  the  sack  and  a  rock  in  the  other  end  to 
balance  the  wheat.  I  was  going  to  my  hotel  and  saw  a  Fili- 
pino peddler  sitting  on  the  edge  of  the  sidewalk,  apparently 
all  tired  out.  The  peddlers  usually  have  two  baskets,  one 
suspended  on  each  end  of  a  bamboo  pole  which  they  place 
on  their  shoulders.  This  fellow  was  a  pig  peddler,  and  in 
one  basket  he  had  two  nice  little  black  pigs.  I  looked  in 
the  other  basket  and  was  surprised  to  see  three  good-sized 
rocks,  nothing  else.  They  were  there  of  course  to  balance 
the  two  pigs  in  the  other  basket.  I  don't  suppose  the  idea 
ever  entered  the  poor  fellow's  head  that  he  could  have  put  a 


MISCELLANEOUS  IMPRESSIONS. 115 

pig  in  each  basket  and  dispensed  with  the  rocks.  Of  course, 
if  he  had  been  as  smart  as  some  people  he  wouldn^t  have 
been  a  pig  peddler. 

Automobiles  are  as  thick  in  this  town  as  they  are  in  Den- 
ver or  Kansas  City.  It  is  toot,  toot,  honk,  honk,  all  day 
and  nearly  all  night  here  in  the  Walled  City  where  streets 
are  narrow,  and  there  is  danger  of  collision  on  every  street 
intersection.  Most  of  the  drivers  are  Filipinos,  and  they 
certainly  seem  to  enjoy  tooting  their  own  horns.  It's  all 
right  until  along  after  midnight,  when  one  tries  to  sleep. 
Then  when  a  bunch  of  joy  riders  go  past  my  window  with 
their  native  "honk"  artist  playing  a  regular  concert,  I  fail  to 
appreciate  the  serenade,  and  feel  like  getting  out  of  bed  and 
taking  a  swat  at  the  outfit  with  a  ripe  banana.  However,  all 
Manila  doesn't  travel  in  automobiles,  and  especially  not  at 
that  time  of  night.  There  is  always  something  to  be  thank- 
ful for  if  you  will  hunt  for  it. 

The  other  means  of  transportation  besides  the  noisy  street 
cars,  consists  of  victorias — four-wheeled  rigs  drawn  by  one, 
sometimes  two  horses.  Then  there  are  calesas,  which  are 
very  comfortable  two-wheeled  one-horse  rigs;  the  carro- 
matas,  which  are  the  common  two-wheeled  street  rigs ;  and 
the  carretelas,  or  native  two-wheeled  carts.  The  horses  used 
for  victorias  and  calesas  are  usually  good-sized  American 
horses,  but  the  other  rigs  use  the  native  ponies,  tough  little 
bats,  smaller  than  the  mustangs  and  Texas  ponies  we  used 
to  have  in  Kansas.  Out  on  the  country  roads  I  have  seen 
six  or  seven  Filipinos  crowded  into  one  caretela  pulled  by  a 
little  rat  of  a  pony  that  any  one  of  the  party  could  have 
almost  picked  up  and  carried.  The  drivers  often  whip  the 
ponies  unmercifully,  and  the  sight  makes  one  long  to  take 
the  offenders  by  the  nap  of  the  neck  and  give  them  a  dose  of 
the  same  medicine. 


116  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

There  are  thousands  of  these  two-wheeled  street  rigs  in 
Manila.  You  can  get  a  rig  at  almost  any  hour  of  the  day 
or  night.  The  driver  will  take  you  most  any  place  in  town 
for  twenty  centavos.  Two  or  three  people  in  the  rig  all  go 
for  one  fare.  When  the  rig  is  hired  by  the  hour  the  fare  is 
forty  centavos,  twenty  cents  in  gold.  They  seem  to  make 
money  at  it,  as  the  streets  fairly  swarm  with  rigs  at  certain 
hours.  The  dri^ver  is  called  a  *'cochero."  He  doesn't  say 
"get  up"  to  his  horse  when  he  wants  the  horse  to  go.  He 
has  a  word  of  his  own  that  sounds  like  ''hooey."  One  can 
hear  this  "hooey"  at  all  hours.  I  have  grown  used  to  it. 
At  first  it  sounded  to  me  as  though  the  driver  was  trying  to 
throw  up  his  dinner.  The  cochero  doesn't  speak  much  Span- 
ish, and  less  English,  but  when  you  can't  make  him  under- 
stand by  talk,  you  can  make  signs,  and  usually  point  the 
way.  This  matter  of  directing  the  driver  is  great  sport, 
especially  for  newcomers,  who  have  some  funny  experiences. 

There  is  little  in  this  part  of  the  world  to  remind  one  of 
Kansas.  Everything  is  so  different,  even  the  grass,  the 
trees,  the  fruits,  the  crops,  the  flowers,  all  are  different  from 
what  we  have  been  used  to  at  home.  We  have  been  here 
long  enough  to  become  accustomed  to  many  of  the  queer 
things,  but  after  all  it  isn't  home,  and  never  will  be  home  to 
me.  Sometimes  I  look  up  into  the  sky  of  an  afternoon  and 
see  the  big  white  thunder-clouds  banked  up  in  great  billows, 
and  it  looks  much  as  the  sky  appears  in  Kansas  on  a  summer 
afternoon,  but  it  is  necessary  to  keep  one's  eyes  on  the 
clouds  to  continue  the  illusion,  for  if  you  glance  back  to  earth 
with  its  palms,  its  carabaos  and  carts,  its  tropic  blossoms, 
its  chatter  of  foreign  tongues,  its  narrow  streets,  its  youngsters 
proudly  clad  only  in  shirts  with  abbreviated  tails — well  there 
is  no  end  to  the  sights  that  convince  one  that  although  the 
sky  may  occasionally  resemble  a  Kansas  sky,  this  country  is 
far,  far  away  from  the  homeland. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

ON  BOARD  A  BATTLESHIP. 

Manila,  March  30,  1916. 

The  big  Philippine  Carnival  is  now  over  and  the  visitors 
from  the  provinces  and  from  neighboring  countries  of  the 
Far  East  have  all  gone  home.  It  was  a  big  show,  and  the 
visitors  seemed  to  enjoy  it.  Several  United  States  warships 
were  in  the  bay  during  the  Carnival.  We  went  out  one 
afternoon  and  visited  the  Brooklyn  and  the  Monadnock.  The 
Brooklyn  was  of  special  interest  to  me  because  it  was  the 
flag-ship  of  Admiral  Schley  when  he  trimmed  the  Spanish 
fleet  at  Santiago,  Cuba,  and  it  was  with  some  degree  of  rev- 
erence that  I  climbed  aboard  and  inspected  this  grand  old 
fighting  machine.  They  say  she  is  a  back  number  now,  but 
in  her  day  she  delivered  the  goods  all  right.  You  will  re- 
member her  guns  left  their  mark  on  every  ship  in  Cervera's 
fleet,  and  was  in  at  the  finish  when  the  last  Spanish  boat 
gave  up  the  struggle  forty  miles  up  the  coast  and  headed  for 
the  shore.  She  may  be  a  back  number,  but  I  wouldn't 
fancy  having  her  guns  pointed  my  way  even  now,  for  they 
still  look  very  grim  and  businesslike  indeed. 

And  she  is  such  a  spotless  ship!  We  went  all  over  the 
big  boat,  around  and  among  the  big  guns,  down  in  the  midst 
of  the  machinery,  were  in  the  ammunition  rooms,  quarters, 
mess  room,  every  place  they  offered  to  take  us,  wore  white 
clothes  and  came  out  without  a  fleck  of  dust  or  a  spot  of 
dirt  or  grease.  It  must  take  some  work  to  keep  a  ship  so 
clean.  Of  course  the  Brooklyn  is  not  of  the  big  dreadnaught 
type  of  battleships,  but  she  is  a  big  boat  when  you  come  to 

(117) 


118  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

look  her  over.  There  are  as  many  men  on  board  that  boat 
as  there  are  people  in  the  whole  town  of  Sedgwick,  so  you 
may  know  she  has  some  size.  We  enjoyed  every  minute  of 
our  stay  on  board.  An  officer  met  us  as  we  came  up  the 
side  and  demanded  our  camera,  so  we  took  no  pictures  of 
the  historic  old  fighter.  We  also  went  all  over  the  Monad- 
nock  that  afternoon.  She  was  at  anchor  not  far  from  the 
Brooklyn.  Three  or  four  submarine  boats  were  alongside  the 
Monadnock  that  day,  and  she  looked  a  little  like  an  old  hen 
with  a  brood  of  chicks.  She  is  a  monitor  type.  Only  the 
fighting  part  of  this  old  fighting  machine  is  above  the  water 
line.  The  men  on  board  kept  telHng  us  how  old  she  was ; 
that  she  was  antiquated,  worn  out,  and  ready  for  the  scrap 
heap.  Finally  I  asked  them  in  what  year  she  was  built,  and 
one  of  the  men  said :  "Oh,  a  long,  long  time  ago,  away  back 
in  1868."  And  then  I  scratched  my  head  and  thought  a 
few  things.  That  was  the  year  I  was  born,  and  somehow  I 
couldn't  think  the  Monadnock  was  so  blamed  old  as  they 
tried  to  make  her  appear.  Still,  I  suppose  battleships  get 
old  quicker  than  people.  At  least  that  was  about  the  only 
consolation  I  could  find  right  at  the  time. 

The  battleships  in  the  bay  were  quite  a  sight  in  the  day- 
time, but  at  night  when  they  were  decked  out  in  electric 
lights  they  were  superb.  They  had  all  lights  on  every  night 
during  Carnival  week.  The  Brooklyn  was  trimmed  with  a 
complete  outline  all  over  her  hull,  decks  and  stacks,  with 
little  electric  lights,  and  of  a  night  out  in  the  black  bay 
when  she  turned  on  the  current  she  was  a  sparkling  electric 
fairy  shipjnstead  of  a  grim  fighting  machine.  She  also  had 
her  big  searchlights  on,  and  when  they  began  playing  around 
all  over  the  sky  the  great  beams  of  light  were  wonderful. 
The  Brooklyn  alone  carries  five  of  these  big  lights  that  shoot 
rays  of  white  light  out  into  the  darkness  of  the  tropic  heav- 


ON  BOARD  A  BATTLESHIP.  119 

ens,  and  as  they  are  shifted  back  and  forth  look  Hke  a  huge 
fan  that  radiates  from  the  ship  apparently  clear  up  to  the 
stars.  They  kept  the  lights  up  toward  the  sky  all  the  time. 
They  were  too  brilliant  and  blinding  to  turn  on  the  carnival 
crowds  and  streets  so  close  to  the  bay. 

The  Saratoga,  formerly  the  New  York,  was  also  here  at 
that  time,  and  with  its  searchlights,  combined  with  those  of 
some  of  the  smaller  craft,  playing  in  all  directions  of  a  dark 
night  you  can  hardly  imagine  what  a  scene  it  created.  Added 
to  this  were  the  thousands  of  lights  on  the  Carnival  grounds 
just  across  the  Luneta  from  the  bay.  The  Carnival  also  had 
one  big  searchlight  on  a  high  tower.  When  the  whole  busi- 
ness got  to  blazing  along  about  10  o'clock  every  night  of  the 
Carnival,  it  presented  a  spectacle  that  would  make  an  or- 
dinary Fourth  of  July  fireworks  exhibition  look  like  a  tallow 
candle  by  comparison.  It  was  a  new  experience  to  us,  and 
we  enjoyed  it  much  more  than  some  of  the  other  new  ex- 
periences, such  as  earthquakes,  volcanoes,  and  typhoons,  for 
instance. 

And  while  speaking  of  boats,  let  me  tell  you  about  some 
of  the  deep  water  they  claim  to  have  over  here.  They  tell 
me  that  one  of  the  deepest  places  in  the  ocean  is  just  off 
the  east  coast  of  the  island  of  Samar,  where  government 
soundings  have  shown  that  the  ocean  is  over  five  miles  deep. 
That  is  some  swimming  hole.  One  could  dive  there  without 
any  danger  of  bumping  the  bottom.  Just  think  of  water 
five  miles  deep!  If  it  were  possible  to  set  a  mountain  like 
Pikes  Peak  down  in  that  hole  and  then  place  another  moun- 
tain of  equal  size  on  top  of  the  first  one,  the  top  of  the  second 
mountain  wouldn't  much  more  than  stick  up  out  of  the  sea 
and  be  a  little  island.  Think  of  tumbling  two  whole  ranges 
the  size  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  into  a  hole  so  big  that  they 
wouldn't  fill  it.     I  call  that  some  hole. 


120  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

Some  time  ago,  in  company  with  Vice-Governor  Martin,  I 
visited  General  Aguinaldo  at  his  home  in  Cavite.  The  Gen- 
eral is  a  very  quiet,  unassuming  little  man,  and  I  like  him. 
It  is  hard  to  realize  that  he  has  had  such  an  adventurous 
career.  He  is  well  thought  of  by  all  classes  here.  He  fought 
as  hard  as  he  could  while  he  was  fighting,  but  when  he  was 
captured  and  quit,  he  quit  for  good.  He  has  a  fine  farm 
near  Cavite  and  devotes  all  his  time  to  farming.  He  seems 
to  have  had  enough,  and  desires  to  lead  a  quiet  life.  He 
showed  us  a  hole  in  the  wall  of  one  of  the  hallways  of  his 
home,  and  told  us  he  kept  that  hole  unrepaired  as  a  sou- 
venir of  Admiral  Dewey.  It  was  made  by  a  shell  from  one 
of  Dewey's  ships  that  morning  in  May  when  the  big  guns 
were  turned  on  Cavite.  Aguinaldo's  home  is  fully  four  miles 
from  the  Cavite  naval  station,  but  the  shell  evidently  glanced 
from  the  water  and  went  on  out  across  the  country.  It  tore 
quite  a  hole  in  the  wall,  and  a  washstand  is  placed  against 
the  opening  except  when  the  souvenir  is  exhibited. 

I  am  getting  tired  of  writing  already.  This  is  a  lazy  man's 
country.  I  guess  that's  why  so  many  Americans  like  it. 
It  is  quite  easy  to  fall  into  the  habit  of  having  some  one  to 
wait  on  you,  and  there  is  usually  a  ''-boy"  at  hand.  Even 
sitting  in  the  hotel  lobby  one  does  not  get  up  and  go  to  the 
ice  water  tank  to  get  a  drink  of  water.  Just  clap  your 
hands  or  push  the  electric  button  and  here  comes  the  boy 
with  your  glass  of  water  on  a  tray.  There  are  no  water 
tanks  at  the  hotels,  so  you  couldn't  help  yourself  even  if  you 
wanted  to.  The  ''boy"  brings  your  morning  paper,  shines 
your  shoes,  makes  the  beds,  polishes  the  floors,  carries  your 
hand  bag,  runs  all  your  errands,  waits  on  table,  brings  your 
laundry;  it's  "Boy  do  this"  and  ''Boy  do  that,"  and  I  am 
afraid  it  will  have  its  influence  on  me,  for  I  never  liked  to 
work  any  too  well,  anyhow.     The  "boy"  may  be  old  enough 


ON  BOARD  A  BATTLESHIP.  121 

to  be  your  uncle,  but  he  is  always  *'boy."  Even  the  Amer- 
ican youngsters  soon  catch  on,  and  instead  of  running  their 
own  errands,  yell  lustily  for  a  ''boy."  They  will  get  bravely 
over  that  habit  when  they  get  back  in  America.  They  are 
due  for  a  rather  rude  awakening  when  they  learn  that  they 
must  help  themselves  or  go  without. 

If  laundry  work  wasn't  so  cheap  there  wouldn't  be  so  many 
white  clothes  worn  over  here.  Nearly  everybody  wears  white, 
and  if  a  man  can  wear  a  white  suit  more  than  one  day  with- 
out a  change  he  is  lucky.  Naturally  there  is  big  laundry 
business,  and  competition  is  keen.  The  ''lavandera,"  or 
washerwoman,  calls  and  gets  our  laundry,  takes  it  clear  over 
to  her  home  in  Cavite,  washes  and  irons  the  clothes  nicely 
and  brings  them  back,  all  for  three  cents  gold  per  garment. 
What  would  a  Kansas  laundress  say  about  washing,  starch- 
ing and  ironing  nice  white  lace  or  embroidered  dresses  for 
three  cents  each?  The  other  day  when  the  laundress  called, 
there  were  only  three  pieces  of  laundry  for  her,  as  the  bulk 
of  our  laundry  had  been  given  to  one  who  called  earlier.  She 
took  what  we  had  and  seemed  glad  to  get  it.  Think  of  car- 
rying that  wash  to  Cavite  and  back  and  doing  the  work  all 
for  nine  cents.  Of  course  she  had  other  orders  at  the  same 
time,  but  a  washerwoman  in  Kansas  wouldn't  even  look  at 
your  clothes  for  nine  cents. 

Most  people  who  keep  house  here  say  that  they  let  the 
''boy"  do  all  the  marketing.  Many  dealers  have  two  prices, 
one  for  Americans  and  the  other  for  FiHpinos  and  Chinos. 
The  boy  can  usually  buy  the  goods  cheaper  than  you  can,  and 
yet  hold  out  a  fair  rakeoff  for  himself.  One  day  while  walk- 
ing along  the  Escolta,  the  main  business  street,  in  company 
with  my  ofl&ce  assistant,  who  is  a  FiUpino,  I  passed  a  flower 
peddler,  and  inquired  the  price  of  a  bouquet  of  red  roses. 
His  price  was  seventy-five  cents.     I  passed  on  and  said  to  my 


122  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

assistant:  ''That^s  too  much.  Those  roses  are  not  worth 
more  than  a  quarter."  He  promptly  replied;  "I  can  buy 
them  for  that."  I  gave  him  twenty-five  cents,  and  he  re- 
turned with  the  roses  all  right.  That's  a  fair  sample.  Nearly 
all  the  stores  are  the  same  w^ay.  They  have  the  price  away 
up,  and  if  you  pay  it  they  are  surprised,  think  you  are  a 
chump,  but  take  the  money.  It's  hard  to  tell  when  you 
really  buy  anything  cheap  enough  unless  you  are  pretty  well 
posted  on  values.  You  think  you  have  a  bargain  until  you 
find  some  one  else  who  has  bought  the  same  thing  for  less 
money.     There  are  a  few  one-price  stores,  but  only  a  few. 

I  guess  this  will  be  all  for  this  time.  If  I  tell  all  I  know  at 
one  time  I  will  not  have  anything  left  for  future  correspond- 
ence. We  are  in  good  health  and  are  having  a  good  time, 
but  often  get  to  talking  about  the  old  home  and  have  quite 
a  pronounced  longing  to  see  you  all  again. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A  COMMENCEMENT  ADDRESS. 

Manila,  April  5,  1916. 
I  am  enclosing  herewith  a  copy  of  the  Commencement  ad- 
dress by  Hon.  Henderson  S.  Martin,  Vice-Governor  of  the 
Phihppine  Islands,  and  chairman  of  the  Board  of  Regents  ^ 
delivered  at  the  sixth  commencement  exercises  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  the  Philippines,  on  the  University  campus,  yes- 
terday morning,  April  4,  1916.  It  was  delivered  in  the 
presence  of  more  than  a  thousand  well-wishers  and  friends 
of  the  University  and  the  246  graduates  of  the  class  of  1916. 
I  am  sending  it  because  it  will  give  the  reader  some  idea  of 
the  plans  and  purposes  of  this  big  University,  and  also  be- 
cause it  illustrates  the  grasp  of  the  situation  and  broadness 
of  vision  of  Vice-Governor  Martin.     The  address  follows : 

''It  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  pleasant  situa- 
tion than  the  one  in  which  we  find  ourselves  this  morning — 
a  beautiful  morning,  as  beautiful  as  the  Tropics  can  produce. 
Under  these  magnificent  trees — the  acacia  trees — a  tree  that 
to  some  of  you  suggests  interesting  things,  surrounded  by 
these  University  buildings,  the  whole  setting  recalls  the 
groves  of  Athens,  those  memorable  groves  where  young  men 
listened  to  the  words  of  Socrates  and  of  Plato,  where  young 
men  were  wont  to  assemble  to  study. 

''For  a  few  minutes  this  morning,  I  want  to  tell  you  some- 
thing of  my  conception  of  the  mission  of  this  University. 
There  are  a  great  many  things  that  ought  to  be  done  in 
these  Islands,  in  this  world  for  that  matter.  No  assembly 
of  people  could  be  brought  together  in  these  Islands  that 
would  know  better  than  you  know  the  great  things  that  wait 
to  be  done.     No  people  know  better  than  you  the  great 

(123) 


124  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

waste  that  comes  from  a  failure  to  educate  the  youth  of  a 
country.  You  know  the  sadness  of  ignorance ;  you  know  the 
waste,  the  irreparable  waste,  of  ignorance.  You  also  know 
that  in  these  Islands  something  like  half  a  million  boys  and 
girls  are  denied  the  privileges  of  an  education.  Certainly 
such  a  situation  appeals  to  every  University  man  and  to 
every  University  woman,  but,  my  friends,  this  University 
cannot  undertake  directly  to  educate  that  half  million  boys 
and  girls.  Such  an  undertaking  would  be  for  this  University 
to  miss  its  mission,  pressing,  insistently  pressing,  as  the  need 
may  be  to  help  those  boys  and  girls.  Nobody  need  tell  you 
the  great  waste  there  is  in  these  Islands  which  comes  from  a 
lack  of  sanitation,  which  comes  from  a  lack  of  medical 
knowledge;  nobody  can  tell  you  how  important  it  is,  and 
how  pressingly  important  it  is,  to  save  the  babies  of  these 
Islands,  to  extend  the  hfe  of  usefulness  , of  the  men  and 
women  of  these  Islands,  to  take  such  steps  as  will  add  five 
years  or  ten  years  to  the  active  life  of  the  average  man  and 
the  average  woman.  But,  my  friends,  this  University  cannot 
undertake  the  task  of  saving  the  babies  of  these  Islands,  de- 
plorable as  it  may  be  to  lose  them ;  it  cannot  undertake  the 
task  of  teaching  the  people  of  these  Islands  the  laws  of  sani- 
tation ;  it  cannot  undertake  directly  to  add  ten  years  to  the 
life  of  the  average  man  and  the  average  woman.  To  under- 
take to  do  that  work,  great  as  it  is,  in  my  judgment  would  be 
to  miss  the  mission  for  which  the  University  is  sent. 

*' Another  thing  nobody  can  tell  you  about  is  the  pressing 
importance  there  is  in  these  Islands  for  the  development  of 
agriculture,  for  the  development  of  the  economic  interests  of 
the  people.  Some  of  the  finest  islands  in  this  archipelago, 
which  means,  my  friends,  some  of  the  finest  islands  in  all  the 
world,  fruitful  beyond  compare,  made  by  the  Great  Creator 
for  the  residence  of  a  multitude  of  men  and  women,  I  say, 
some  of  these  beautiful  and  fruitful  islands  have  less  than 
one  per  cent  of  the  tillable  land  under  cultivation,  while  the 
people,  some  of  them,  are  without  sufficient  food.  Nobody 
can  tell  you  the  great  importance,  and  the  pressing  impor- 
tance, of  developing  the  agriculture  and  the  economic  inter- 
ests and  resources  of  these  Islands;   but,  my  friends,  this 


A  COMMENCEMENT  ADDRESS.  125 

University  cannot  directly  undertake  to  do  that.  To  under- 
take that  task  would,  in  my  judgment,  be  to  miss  the  mis- 
sion for  which  the  University  is  sent  to  the  Islands. 

''Then  what  is  the  mission  of  this  University?  If  I  am 
not  mistaken,  the  mission  of  this  University  is  to  take  the 
intellectual  leadership  of  the  Filipino  people,  not  especially 
in  medicine,  or  in  law,  or  in  agriculture,  or  in  economics,  or 
in  science,  not  especially  in  any  one  of  them,  but,  generally, 
in  all  of  them.  The  mission  of  this  University  is  to  furnish 
to  the  people  of  these  Islands  scientists  who  go  further  than 
the  other  scientists  have  gone ;  physicians  to  point  out  new 
remedies  for  other  men  to  use ;  lawyers  who  lay  down  prin- 
ciples for  other  men  to  enforce.  Such  is  the  mission  of  this 
University,  to  become  and  to  remain  the  intellectual  leader 
of  the  Filipino  people,  to  take  the  unquestioned  leadership 
in  the  intellectual  affairs  of  this  country.  Such  a  mission  is 
a  great  mission.  It  is  worthy  of  the  ambition  of  the  best 
men  and  women  you  have  for  that  matter,  the  best  men  and 
women  of  any  country.  And  what  may  we  hope  if  the  Uni- 
versity will  do  that?  What  are  the  great  things  which  we 
may  hope  will  come  from  such  a  leadership?  Listen  to  me 
while  I  tell  you  something  of  a  vision  that  comes  to  my  mind. 
Of  course,  we  all  know  that  such  a  leadership  would  be  of 
incalculable  value  to  the  millions  of  people  in  these  Islands. 
I  need  not  stop  to  tell  you  of  the  great  things  that  such 
leadership  would  bring;  but,  my  friends,  if  my  vision  is 
right,  from  such  leadership  we  might  hope  for  even  greater 
things  than  the  advantages  which  would  come  to  the  people 
of  these  Islands.  Those  of  you  who  are  acquainted  with 
history  know  that  in  ancient  times  the  great  civilizations  of 
the  world  were  in  the  Tropics ;  the  great  cities  were  in  the 
Tropics;  the  great  agricultural  communities  were  in  the 
Tropics ;  the  great  libraries  were  in  the  Tropics ;  the  great 
men  and  the  great  women  were  in  the  Tropics ;  the  people 
of  the  Tropics  were  leaders  in  the  world  in  ancient  times. 
Somewhere,  somehow,  something  happened.  I  cannot  tell 
you  where,  I  cannot  tell  you  how.  All  I  know  is  that  some- 
thing happened.  All  I  know  is  that  somewhere  and  some- 
what the  Tropics  lost  its  leadership.     Somewhere,  on  some 


126  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

account,  the  great  civilizations  which  once  inhabited  the 
Tropics  departed;  the  great  men  who  once  inhabited  the 
Tropics  died.  The  leaders  in  civilization  came  from  other 
sources.  My  friends,  this  University  is  in  the  Tropics.  It 
belongs  in  a  country  of  ancient  glory ;  the  Tropics  must  be 
improved;  the  world  is  crowding  upon  the  Tropics.  The 
belt  which  we  call  the  Tropics  has  many  of  the  most  fruitful 
trees  of  our  earth,  trees  that  produce  the  most  delicious 
fruits,  and  the  greatest  profusion  of  foods.  Its  soil  is  fertile 
and  its  products  are  manifold.  The  people  of  the  world  are 
hungry.  They  are  becoming  more  and  more  hungry.  The 
people  of  the  world  will  not  forever  permit  the  Tropics  to 
remain  in  the  hands  of  people  who  do  not  assert  their  leader- 
ship, who  do  not  develop  the  Tropics,  who  do  not  press  for- 
ward to  the  front  rank  of  civilized  people.  One  of  the  great 
things  that  this  University  may  do  is  to  take  the  leadership 
among  the  people  of  the  Tropics  in  restoring  the  ancient 
glory  of  the  Tropics.  My  University  friends,  this  is  the 
question :  Will  the  people  of  the  Tropics  take  the  leadership 
in  the  development  of  the  Tropics,  in  restoring  the  Tropics 
to  their  ancient  glory,  or  will  they  permit  that  to  be  done  by 
people  who  come  into  the  Tropics?  It  will  be  done.  Will 
the  people  of  the  Tropics  do  it,  or  will  they  permit  strangers 
to  do  it?  This  great  University,  the  greatest,  except  in 
numbers,  in  the  Tropics,  may  take  the  leadership  in  that 
magnificent  work  if  it  will.  It  may  help  the  people  of  the 
Tropics  to  develop  their  countries,  to  bring  back  their  an- 
cient glory,  and  not  permit  it  to  be  done  by  strangers. 

''One  other  thing  in  my  vision  that  this  University  may 
do.  There  is  so  much  transportation  now,  so  much  com- 
munication between  nations,  between  remote  people  of  earth, 
that  it  is  hard  for  us  to  understand  that  formerly  nations 
scarcely  communicated  with  each  other  at  all.  It  is  dif- 
ficult for  us  to  appreciate  that  there  have  been  times  when 
the  people  in  one  part  of  the  globe  scarcely  knew  that  there 
were  people  in  another  part  of  the  globe,  or  if  they  knew  it, 
they  had  fantastic  ideas  about  the  character  of  the  people. 
They  had  no  intercourse,  no  communication,  and  from  that 
condition  of  affairs  there  have  grown  up  in  the  world  differ- 


A  COMMENCEMENT  ADDRESS.  127 

ent  peoples.  There  have  grown  up  an  East  and  a  West,  an 
Orient  and  an  Occident.  An  Orient  with  oriental  ideas,  ori- 
ental customs,  oriental  standards,  hopes,  habits,  and  ambi- 
tions. An  Occident  with  different  ideals,  different  standards, 
different  hopes,  and  different  ambitions.  These  two  peoples, 
my  friends,  in  recent  years  have  commenced  to  intermingle. 
There  have  been  flashes  of  the  great  danger  of  the  future ; 
the  great  danger  that  in  the  future  there  will  be  clashes  be- 
tween the  people  of  the  Occident  and  the  people  of  the 
Orient.  Blessed  is  the  man  or  the  institution  that  can  bring 
these  two  people  together,  that  can  harmonize  their  ideals, 
and  avoid  a  future  clash.  What  in  all  this  world,  my 
friends,  is  more  suitable  to  become  a  leader  in  that  great 
work  than  the  University  of  the  Phihppines,  situated  in  the 
Orient,  acquainted  with  the  ideals,  hopes  and  habits  of  the 
people  of  the  Qrient,  familiar,  as  you  are,  with  the  ideals, 
hopes,  habits,  and  the  customs  of  the  people  of  the  Occident. 
Here  it  is,  here  you  are,  situated  suitably  to  become  a  clear- 
ing house,  situated  to  become  a  melting  pot  for  the  ideals 
of  the  people  of  the  East  and  the  people  of  the  West.  Some 
one  has  asked  :  Where  does  the  East  meet  the  West?  Now, 
let  me  call  upon  you  to  furnish  that  answer.  Will  it  be  said 
in  future  years  that  the  East  and  the  West  met  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  the  Philippines?  Will  it  be  here,  my  friends,  amid 
these  pleasant  surroundings  that  the  great  work  of  harmon- 
izing the  East  and  the  West  shall  be  carried  on? 

Such  is  my  vision  of  your  future,  if  you  will  do  it.  How 
can  you  do  it?  How  can  this  University  become  strong 
enough  and  great  enough  to  become  the  intellectual  leader  of 
the  Filipino  people,  a  leader  in  the  Tropics,  a  leader  in  the 
Orient?  It  can  do  so,  my  friends,  only  if  it  has  the  loyal 
and  the  active  support  of  its  friends,  of  the  young  men  and 
the  young  women  who  have  received  its  favors,  and  this 
morning  I  call  upon  you  wherever  you  may  go  to  keep  the 
University  of  the  Philippines  in  your  minds  and  in  your 
hearts.  I  call  upon  you  to  be  counted  as  friends  of  the 
University  of  the  Philippines.  Never  overlook  a  chance  to 
support  it,  actively  to  support  it.  Count  the  man  who  is  an 
enemy  of  this  University  an  enemy  of  yours.     See  that  it 


128  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

has  fair  treatment  from  the  Legislature,  from  the  people; 
see  to  it  that  the  men  and  women  who  are  in  charge  of  the 
University  are  worthy  men  and  worthy  women;  see  to  it 
that  its  curriculum  is  improved  year  by  year.  You  cannot 
become  leaders  by  turning  out  a  multitude  of  graduates.  If 
you  become  a  leader,  it  will  not  be  on  account  of  numbers, 
it  will  not  be  on  account  of  quantity,  it  will  be  on  account 
of  quality.  See  to  it  that  the  men  and  women  who  leave 
this  Universit^^  improve  year  by  year. 

''My  friends,  in  this  inartistic  sort  of  way  I  have  indi- 
cated to  you  this  morning  what  I  conceive  to  be  the  mission 
of  this  University.  I  have  told  you  something  of  my  vision 
of  this  University  in  the  future — that  it  may  become  a 
leader,  not  only  among  the  Filipino  people,  but  among  the 
people  of  the  Tropics ;  that  it  may  take  a  leading  part  in  an 
attempt  to  restore  the  ancient  glory  of  the  Tropics;  that 
this  University  may  become  a  leader  in  the  great  work  of 
harmonizing  the  people  of  the  East  and  the  people  of  the 
West. 

**My  parting  request  to  you,  young  men  and  women,  who 
are  going  out  of  the  University  this  morning,  is  to  support  it, 
to  lend  the  help  of  your  strong  hand — a  hand  that  in  the 
future  may  become  a  mighty  hand.'' 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

AN  APPRECIATION  OF  VICE-GOVERNOR  MARTIN. 

Manila,  April  30,  1916. 

This  is  an  account  of  the  success  attained  by  Hon.  Hen- 
derson S.  Martin,  the  distinguished  Kansan  who  served  his 
government  for  a  number  of  years  by  administering  the  af- 
fairs of  a  dependent  people  as  Vice-Governor-General  and 
Secretary  of  Pubhc  Instruction  in  the  Philippine  Islands. 

It  is  written  by  one  who  has  resided  in  the  PhiHppines 
during  the  time  Mr.  Martin  has  been  in  office.  Having 
traveled  to  all  parts  of  the  Islands  and  met  with  people  in 
all  walks  of  life ;  having  watched  the  progress  made  by  the 
big,  warm-hearted,  forceful  Kansan  during  his  days  of  in- 
experience; having  witnessed  a  part  of  the  perplexities  he 
faced  and  knowing  something  of  the  difficulties  he  met  and 
overcame ;  having  watched  with  pride  his  growth  in  the  af- 
fection of  the  people  and  his  development  into  an  executive 
and  a  legislator  of  marked  ability,  it  is  with  pleasure  that  I 
write  this  humble  appreciation  of  a  man  who  talked  the 
Kansas  language  and  brought  Kansas  ideas  of  sincerity,  hon- 
esty and  justice  to  an  alien  land. 

Some  idea  of  the  size  of  the  task  assumed  by  Vice-Go vernor 
Martin  when  he  accepted  his  appointment  may  be  obtained 
from  the  statement  that  the  total  area  of  the  Philippine 
Islands  is  nearly  double  the  area  of  Kansas,  and  larger  in 
fact  than  the  states  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  Vermont, 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and  New  York, 
combined.  The  total  population  exceeds  ten  million  people, 
representing  many  races  and  types.     To  this  country  Mr. 

(129) 


130  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

Martin  came  early  in  the  year  of  1914,  as  Vice-Governor- 
General  and  Secretary  of  Public  Instruction,  by  appointment 
of  President  Woodrow  Wilson.  The  appointment  came  to 
him  absolutely  unsolicited.  He  had  not  asked  for  the  posi- 
tion. He  did  not  know  that  he  was  even  being  considered 
for  the  place.  The  announcement  of  his  appointment  was  a 
complete  surprise.  He  came  a  stranger  to  the  manners,  cus- 
toms, language,  and  ways  of  Oriental  people  in  general.  To 
add  to  the  difficulties  of  administration,  the  European  war 
broke  out  within  a  few  months  after  his  arrival,  which  seri- 
ously affected  affairs  in  the  Philippines  as  in  all  other  parts 
of  the  world.  He  came  to  the  Tropics  with  its  mixture  of 
races,  confusion  of  tongues,  political  intrigues  and  prejudices, 
with  no  Oriental  knowledge  or  experience  to  guide  him,  with 
no  chart  save  his  native  ability,  and  his  Kansas  sense  of  ab- 
solute justice  and  fair  play.  And  with  these  he  made  good. 
This  is  the  story  of  how  he  accomplished  it : 

Upon  his  arrival  he  kept  his  own  counsel.  He  adhered  to 
this  policy  consistently.  He  was  always  democratic  and 
easily  approachable,  but  he  said  little.  There  was  never 
any  attempt  at  ostentation,  display  or  exclusiveness.  The 
humblest  resident  of  the  Islands  could  gain  an  audience  with 
him  with  the  assurance  that  his  affairs  would  receive  sym- 
pathetic attention.  He  talked  when  it  was  necessary.  When 
it  was  not  necessary  to  talk  he  was  silent.  Often  those  who 
came  to  sound  him  foimd  themselves  the  interviewed  party. 
All  his  skill  as  a  trained  la\Nyer  was  brought  into  play.  He 
was  master  of  the  art  of  cross-examination.  There  was 
never  a  word  of  condemnation  of  the  work  of  his  predeces- 
sors. Neither  was  there  rosy  promise  of  what  the  so-called 
"New  Era"  would  accompUsh.  There  was  work  to  be  done, 
and  he  resolved  to  do  it. 

The  duties  he  assumed  in  the  Philippines  were  of  two  dis- 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  VICE-GOVERNOR  MARTIN.    131 

tinct  classes,  administrative  and  legislative.  Under  the 
former  class  as  Vice-Governor  and  Secretary  of  Public  In- 
struction he  had  immediate  supervision  and  control  of  the 
following  branches  of  the  government:  Bureau  of  Educa- 
tion, Bureau  of  Agriculture,  Bureau  of  Prisons,  Bureau  of 
Supply,  Bureau  of  Printing,  University  of  the  Philippines, 
and  Philippine  Library. 

Thus  nearly  half  of  the  active  and  important  divisions  of 
the  Philippine  government  were  under  his  immediate  direc- 
tion. The  Bureau  of  Education  alone  has  a  total  of  10,923 
Filipino  and  American  employees  engaged  in  educational 
work.  The  Bureau  of  Supply,  the  big  purchasing  agency  for 
the  government,  expended  great  sums  annually  that  re- 
quired careful  supervision.  The  Bureau  of  Agriculture  main- 
tained a  personnel  of  scientific  men  and  trained  experts  in 
tropic  agriculture,  as  well  as  a  score  of  experimental  and 
demonstration  farms  throughout  the  provinces,  a  well  or- 
ganized veterinary  and  animal  husbandry  division,  pest  con- 
trol, fiber  division,  department  of  cooperative  organization, 
and  a  field  force  of  nearly  one  hundred  trained  agricultural 
inspectors  who  carried  practical  instruction  to  the  farmers  on 
their  own  farms.  The  splendid  University,  the  big  free 
Library,  the  well-administered  Bureau  of  Prisons,  all  felt 
the  touch  of  his  guiding  hand  and  the  impress  of  his  forceful 
character  as  he  assumed  his  duties  and  became  familiar  with 
local  conditions.  In  the  administration  of  those  various 
activities  there  has  never  been  a  charge  of  mismanagement 
or  scandal  of  any  sort,  a  fine  tribute  to  his  foresight  and 
executive  ability.  Added  to  the  above  duties,  at  times  dur- 
ing the  absence  of  the  Governor-General  he  assumed  com- 
plete charge  of  all  affairs  of  the  government,  which  were 
always  creditably  administered. 

Great  as  has  been  his  work  as  an  executive,  and  successful 


132 A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

beyond  question,  it  is  equaled  and  probably  surpassed  as  to 
lasting  benefits  to  the  country  by  his  legislative  record  in  his 
capacity  as  a  member  of  the  Philippine  Commission,  or  upper 
house,  of  the  Legislature.  It  is  a  record  unequaled  by  any 
of  his  predecessors,  and  one  in  which  he  has  just  cause  for 
pride.  Here  are  some  of  the  leading  laws  of  which  he  was 
the  author  and  which  through  his  influence  and  energy  were 
enacted  :  Rural  Credit  Law,  Immunization  Law,  Work  Ani- 
mals Insurance  Law,  Infant  Industry  Law,  Usury  Law,  Law 
Establishing  Philippine  National  Bank,  Household  Indus- 
tries Law,  and  ''Blue  Sky"  Law. 

The  effects  of  this  legislation  will  be  felt  in  the  Philippine 
Islands  for  generations.  It  will  go  on  and  on,  exerting  its 
wholesome  influence  in  the  great  scheme  of  Philippine  devel- 
opment. In  Kansas,  where  we  have  laws  to  regulate  every 
line  of  human  conduct,  and  a  few  others  thrown  in  for  good 
measure,  the  full  importance  of  the  legislation  listed  above 
may  not  be  readily  apparent.  To  those  at  all  familiar  with 
Oriental  conditions  it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  usury  is  an 
established,  thoroughly  well-intrenched  business  in  all  coun- 
tries of  the  Far  East,  a  means  by  which  the  poor  are  ex- 
ploited. Therefore  in  the  Philippines  where  for  centuries 
the  grip  of  the  usurer  has  been  a  veritable  stranglehold  upon 
the  neck  of  the  small  farmer,  the  enactment  and  enforcement 
of  a  law  against  usury  was  all  but  revolutionary,  and  an 
attainment  worthy  the  highest  statesmanship.  The  whole- 
some effects  of  this  legislation,  the  breaking  of  the  chains  of 
financial  servitude,  will  continue  to  be  apparent,  not  only  in 
the  Philippines,  but  it  will  in  time  extend  to  the  toiling, 
oppressed  millions  throughout  the  entire  Orient,  for  the  ad- 
vancement made  in  the  Philippines  is  sure  to  serve  as  an 
example  and  an  inspiration  to  other  countries. 

In  a  country  where  the  rinderpest  disease  causes  the  death 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  VICE-GOVERNOR  MARTIN.    133 

of  thousands  of  work  animals  every  year,  the  immunization 
law,  which  appropriates  funds  for  the  estabHshment  of  im- 
munization stations,  where  trained  veterinarians  with  scien- 
tific equipment  immunize  animals  against  the  disease  on  pay- 
ment of  a  nominal  fee  by  the  owner,  is  a  veritable  godsend 
to  the  agriculturist,  who  certainly  has  his  full  share  of  dif- 
ficulties and  discouragements  in  this  tropic  land.  Of  equal 
if  not  greater  value  is  the  Work  Animals  Insurance  Law, 
which  provides  that  upon  pa3maent  of  a  small  fee  the  owner 
may  insure  his  animals,  and  thus  further  protect  himself. 
Think  of  the  opposition  all  this  legislation  met  at  the  hands 
of  the  favored  classes,  who  through  tradition  and  custom 
had  grown  to  consider  their  system  as  a  vested  right,  and 
you  begin  to  grasp  the  full  meaning  and  tremendous  im- 
portance of  this  legislation  to  the  masses  of  the  people  of 
the  Philippines. 

The  *'Blue  Sky"  Law  regulating  investments  was  another 
Kansas  idea  transplanted  on  aHen  land,  where  it  is  today 
safeguarding  investors,  as  it  is  doing  at  home. 

The  idea  of  a  National  Bank  for  the  Philippines,  a  bank 
with  sufl[icient  funds  to  furnish  capital  to  agricultural  as  well 
as  commercial  interests,  originated  with  Vice-Governor  Mar- 
tin. He  framed  the  law.  He  gave  the  draft  of  the  proposed 
law  the  widest  possible  publicity.  He  sohcited  advice,  criti- 
cism and  discussion  of  the  measure.  He  carried  the  bill 
through  to  successful  enactment  and  assisted  with  the  or- 
ganization of  this  bank  with  a  capital  of  $10,000,000,  an  in- 
stitution of  the  utmost  economic  value  in  the  present  devel- 
opment of  the  country.  Without  exception  the  banks  in  the 
Phihppines  were  branches  of  European  or  American  institu- 
tions, conducted  for  the  sole  purpose  of  producing  dividends 
for  the  foreign  shareholders.  There  are  provinces  in  the 
Phihppines  with  twice  as  many  people  as  Wyandotte  County, 


134  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS, 

Kansas,  that  have  never  had  a  bank  of  any  kind.  With  this 
condition  existing,  the  need  of  the  big  PhiHppine  National 
Bank  is  readily  apparent. 

Another  important  aid  to  development  was  his  Infant  In- 
dustry Law,  in  which  provision  was  made  that  any  new  agri- 
cultural, commercial  or  industrial  enterprise  about  to  be  un- 
dertaken, and  one  that  it  would  serve  the  public  good  for  the 
government  to  aid,  the  insular  government  could  guarantee 
interest  or  dividends  on  the  capital  invested  in  such  enter- 
prise for  a  period  of  not  to  exceed  five  years  and  in  an  amount 
not  to  exceed  five  per  cent  per  annum  of  the  net  profits  of 
such  enterprise,  in  which  all  or  at  least  sixty  per  centum  of 
the  capital  invested  was  PhiHppine  capital,  should  be  entitled 
to  this  guaranty. 

The  Household  Industry  Law  was  for  the  protection  and 
aid  of  the  laborers  in  the  home,  the  wife  and  children.  It 
was  a  direct  blow  at  ^' sweat  shop"  methods  of  unscrupulous 
dealers,  who  exploited  the  poor,  weak,  helpless  toilers. 
Through  the  Bureau  of  Education  and  the  Bureau  of  Supply 
there  was  perfected  an  organization  of  producers  of  house- 
hold industries,  the  makers  of  embroidery,  hats,  laces,  bas- 
kets and  the  like.  Standard  patterns  were  furnished,  uni- 
form grades  of  work  established,  and  a  reliable  market  at  a 
fair  price  was  found  for  these  products. 

The  above  is  by  no  means  a  complete  hst  of  the  activities 
of  Vice-Governor  Martin.  He  organized  the  Pubhc  Welfare 
Board,  and  as  chairman  of  the  same  rendered  active  and  ef- 
ficient service  to  the  public  during  his  residence  in  the 
Islands.  Up  to  the  time  of  his  arrival  there  had  been  no 
system  to  pubHc  charities.  The  Legislature  was  asked  from 
time  to  time  to  appropriate  funds  for  various  charitable  pur- 
poses. Thus  the  enterprise  backed  by  the  biggest  ''pull" 
often  secured  the  prize,  and  other  deserving  charitable  proj- 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  VICE-GOVERNOR  MARTIN.    135 

ects  got  nothing.  The  Public  Welfare  Board  now  has  com- 
plete supervision  of  all  public  charities.  Now  the  Legisla- 
tin-e  makes  the  appropriation  for  charities  in  a  lump  sum, 
which  is  distributed  at  the  discretion  of  the  Board.  This 
insures  a  square  deal  for  even  the  humblest  charity. 

He  fostered  the  idea  of  cooperation  in  the  Islands,  not 
only  through  the  Rural  Credit  and  Cooperative  Insurance 
laws,  but  by  the  organization  of  cooperative  agricultural  so- 
cieties in  nearly  every  province  and  municipality.  When 
this  work  was  first  started  the  word  '^ cooperation"  was  prac- 
tically unknown  among  the  rural  population  of  the  Philip- 
pines, but  the  idea  once  planted  has  grown  rapidly  and  will 
continue  to  demonstrate  the  power  of  combined  action  and 
unity  of  purpose. 

His  record  in  the  Islands  was  an  honorable,  continuous, 
sjnupathetic  effort  to  alleviate  distress,  to  better  conditions, 
and  to  extend  to  all  the  people  the  American  and  typically 
the  Kansas  idea  of  a  square  deal.  Soon  after  the  opening 
of  the  European  war,  many  dealers  saw  the  opportunity  for 
a  corner  in  food  stuffs,  and  prices  at  once  began  to  soar. 
Rice,  a  staple  food  product,  will  serve  as  an  illustration. 
When  prices  advanced  beyond  reason,  the  government  cable 
ship  was  promptly  sent  to  Saigon  for  a  cargo  of  rice,  which 
was  offered  to  consumers  at  practically  cost.  The  effect 
on  dealers  was  at  once  apparent,  and  the  combination  sur- 
rendered. This  prompt  action  brought  prices  back  to  normal. 
Offers  to  turn  loose  the  immense  stores  of  provisions  held  by 
the  United  States  Army  had  a  similar  wholesome  effect  and 
saved  consumers  millions  of  dollars.  At  one  time  a  corner 
on  meat  products  sent  prices  soaring,  but  through  the  Bu- 
reau of  Agriculture  the  quarantine  on  importation  of  cattle 
from  China  was  temporarily  suspended  and  an  importation 
of  cattle  soon  taught  the  combination  that  their  scheme  was. 


136  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

a  failure.  As  late  as  the  year  1916  prices  on  canned  milk,  a 
necessity  in  the  Philippines,  took  a  big  jump  and  threatened 
to  go  even  higher.  This  promptly  brought  forth  an  order  to 
the  Bureau  of  Supply,  authorizing  that  division  to  purchase 
canned  milk  in  quantities  sufficient  to  meet  all  demands  and 
to  sell  the  same  to  consumers  in  all  parts  of  the  Islands  at 
cost  plus  a  small  profit.  The  order  alone  was  sufficient  to 
restore  prices  to  a  normal  level. 

Thus  were  administrative  and  legislative  conditions  met, 
and  met  squarely  by  the  Vice-Governor.  His  success  was  in 
many  ways  phenomenal,  and  was  due  to  his  big  warm- 
heartedness, his  fund  of  accumulated  knowledge  of  Oriental 
conditions,  his  sympathy  with  the  people  whose  welfare  was 
for  the  time  being  in  his  charge,  his  fideUty  of  purpose,  his 
untiring  energy,  the  scrupulous  care  given  his  health,  his 
ability  to  work,  his  frankness,  his  large  vision,  his  sense  of 
justice  and  equity,  and  an  intense  ambition  to  be  of  service. 
These  were  the  leading  characteristics  that  account  for  his 
popularity  and  the  success  of  his  administration.  While  ad- 
ministering the  affairs  of  a  country  as  large  as  four  or  five 
states  at  home,  there  was  no  evidence  that  his  success  unduly 
elated  him.  He  lived  the  plain,  unassuming  life  of  the  every- 
day Kansan,  merely  transferred  to  a  larger,  more  useful 
field.  He  was  big,  clean,  wholesome,  active,  and  efficient. 
Every  working  day  found  him  at  his  desk  by  7  in  the  morn- 
ing, often  earlier.  The  amount  of  work  he  accomplished  was 
often  a  matter  of  amazement  to  the  easy-going  residents  of 
the  Orient.  The  entangling  allurements  of  the  Far  East  had 
no  charm  for  him.  He  had  a  man's  work  to  do  and  he  per- 
formed it  in  all  sincerity.  For  a  time  his  frankness  and  his 
"Kansas  language"  were  no  doubt  a  puzzle  to  the  Fihpinos, 
but  in  time  they  learned  to  know  him,  to  trust  him,  and  to 
rely  upon  him  with  the  utmost  confidence  as  their  friend. 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  VICE-GOVERNOR  MARTIN.    137 

At  one  time  a  big  farmers'  congress  was  held  in  Manila, 
This  congress  was  composed  of  prominent  farmers  from  all 
parts  of  the  Islands.  The  writer  was  asked  to  address  them, 
and  knowing  the  baleful  effects  of  usury  in  the  Islands,  and 
that  the  small  farmers  who  were  being  squeezed  by  its  ef- 
fects would  not  be  at  this  meeting,  determined  to  speak  for 
them  by  denouncing  the  practice  of  usury  in  no  uncertain 
words.  Then,  considering  the  fact  that  the  500  prominent 
farmers  assembled  at  the  congress  were  nearly  all  profiting 
by  the  system,  I  thought  that  possibly  the  dose  had  been 
made  too  strong  and  unpalatable.  The  day  I  was  to  deHver 
it,  I  decided  to  submit  this  part  of  the  address  to  Vice-Gov- 
ernor  Martin  and  ask  his  advice.  After  I  had  finished  read- 
ing it  to  him  he  said  very  quietly,  but  firmly :  ''Your  state- 
ments are  true.  Go  in  and  deliver  the  address  just  as  it  is. 
So  long  as  we  remain  here,  we  must  tell  the  people  the  truth. 
Tell  them  what  is  good  for  them  whether  they  like  it  or  not. 
If  they  don't  like  it,  we  can  go  back  home,  but  we  can't  af- 
ford to  compromise  on  questions  like  that." 

On  the  occasion  of  his  visit  to  the  big  sugar  district  at 
San  Carlos,  on  the  island  of  Negros,  where  a  splendid,  mod- 
ern sugar  mill  had  been  erected,  he  inspected  the  plantation 
thoroughly  as  the  guest  of  the  rich  planters  who  owned  the 
mill.  He  was  particularly  interested  in  the  status  of  the 
laborers  in  the  district.  He  visited  their  quarters,  inspected 
the  food  furnished  them,  inquired  about  the  wages  paid,  etc- 
His  activities  in  this  line  aroused  the  curiosity  of  the  plant- 
ers. They  found  out  his  reasons  later  when  they  asked  him 
to  address  the  leading  planters  of  the  district.  He  compli- 
mented them  on  their  enterprise  in  erecting  a  modern  sugar 
mill  and  the  splendid  prospects  they  had.    He  said  in  part : 

"This  new  mill  and  your  fertile  plantations  will  make  you 
rich.    You  are  especially  favored  and  sure  to  prosper.    But 


138  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

let  me  warn  you  here  and  how,  that  if  you  wish  to  continue 
to  prosper,  if  you  desire  to  live  in  comfort  and  enjoy  the 
peaceful  possession  of  your  wealth,  you  must  not  fail  to 
properly  care  for  the  laborers  on  your  plantations,  the  people 
who  make  your  prosperity  possible.  They  must  be  given  a 
reasonable  chance.  They  may  stand  neglect  and  oppression 
for  a  time,  but  in  the  end  such  a  poHcy  is  sure  to  result  in 
disaster." 

At  one  time  I  had  the  pleasure  of  listening  to  an  address 
he  made  to  a  crowd  of  about  forty  young  American  school 
teachers  just  arrived  from  the  homeland.  They  were  about 
to  be  assigned  to  duty  in  the  schools  in  the  provinces.  After 
a  stirring  talk  along  the  lines  of  the  possibilities  and  oppor- 
tunities for  good  then  opening  for  them,  he  said : 

"Let  me  impress  upon  you  as  forcibly  as  I  can  the  im- 
portance of  being  in  sympathy  with  the  people  you  are  going 
to  serve.  If  you  find  that  you  are  not  in  sympathy  with 
their  hopes,  ambitions  and  ideals,  do  not  hesitate,  but  let  us 
know  at  once.  Far  better  to  return  home  promptly  than  to 
try  to  continue  a  task  with  which  you  are  not  in  perfect 
accord." 

In  other  words,  yet  with  the  same  high  sense  of  duty  that 
prompted  another  famous  American,  Col.  Goethals,  down  on 
the  Canal  Zone,  to  pick  out  the  occasional  misfit  and  say  to 
him  in  all  kindness :  *'My  man,  you  are  not  making  good. 
This  work  is  too  big  an  undertaking  to  be  trifled  with.  The 
next  boat  sails  for  the  homeland  within  five  days.     You  must 

go." 

It  was  in  this  spirit  that  Vice-Governor  Martin  faithfully 
met  his  duties  in  the  Phihppines,  sobered  no  doubt  by  the 
grave  responsibilities  and  a  desire  to  accompUsh  as  much  as 
possible  in  a  field  where  there  was  so  much  to  do.  There 
was  the  need  of  education,  of  development,  of  constructive 
legislation,  of  a  common  language,  of  a  national  thought  and 


AN  APPRECIATION  OF  VICE-GOVERNOR  MARTIN.    139 

of  a  unity  of  purpose  on  the  part  of  the  people.  One  day  I 
asked  him  what  had  been  his  greatest  disappointment  since 
coming  to  the  Islands,  and  he  unhesitatingly  replied  : 

''My  inability  to  give  all  the  children  a  chance  to  go  to 
Bchool.  I  tell  you  it  hurts  when  I  go  out  to  the  provinces, 
and  have  parents  fairly  beg  me  to  provide  some  opportunity 
for  educating  their  children,  when  we  are  already  doing  the 
best  we  can.  We  are  practicing  the  most  rigid  economy  in 
every  other  department  in  order  to  extend  the  pubUc  school 
system  as  rapidly  as  possible.  War  has  unsettled  finances. 
Revenues  are  insufficient.  The  people  as  a  rule  are  piti- 
fully poor.  We  now  have  over  600,000  children  in  school  in 
these  Islands,  and  that,  mind  you,  in  a  country  where  for 
centuries  education  was  denied  to  all  but  the  favored  few. 
Parents  arid  children  alike  are  clamoring  for  education.  It 
is  the  salvation  of  their  country,  and  they  know  it.  It  is 
the  biggest  work  I  have  had  to  do  here.  The  fact  that 
600,000  are  in  school  now  would  be  more  consolation  were  it 
not  for  the  fact  that  this  number  could  be  easily  increased  to 
a  milHon  if  we  only  had  the  means." 

The  fact  that  600,000  children  were  being  educated  in  a 
land  where  in  former  times  there  were  no  public  schools,  did 
not  impress  him.  It  was  the  cry  of  the  400,000  still  denied 
school  advantages  that  appealed  to  him  with  overwhelming 
force.  And  thus  it  has  been  with  him  always ;  his  big  heart, 
keen  mind  and  active  body  alert  and  in  sympathy  with  the 
unfortunate  and  the  dependent. 

And  in  this  manner  Henderson  Martin  paved  the  way  for 
progress,  enlightenment,  prosperity,  justice  and  equality. 
He  made  a  record  which,  though  not  told  in  song  and  story, 
will  yet  have  its  place  in  history  for  its  lasting  effect  upon 
the  destiny  of  the  people  of  the  Philippines.  The  things  he 
accompHshed  are  cherished  in  the  hearts  of  the  Filipinos  and 
his  own  countrymen,  and  are  an  especial  source  of  pride  and 
inspiration  to  the  loyal  sons  and  daughters  of  Kansas. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

INTER-ISLAND  TRAVEL. 

Manila,  May  5,  1916. 

In  pleasant  weather  there  is  nothing  more  enjoyable  to  me 
than  traveling  around  among  these  islands  by  boat.  The 
sea  is  then  smooth,  and  one  is  never  out  of  sight  of  land. 
The  little  green  islands  with  their  feathery,  waving  palms; 
the  glistening  coral  beaches;  the  green  mountains  often 
mounting  up  among  the  clouds  and  covered  with  verdure  to 
their  summits,  are  sights  that  are  always  beautiful.  There 
are  httle  isolated  islands  here  and  there  on  which  may  be 
only  a  light-house,  and  on  some  not  even  a  sign  of  human 
habitation.  These  small  islands  are  often  surrounded  by 
submerged  coral  reefs,  and  big  boats  cannot  approach  close 
to  them.  It  is  along  these  coral  reefs  that  some  of  the  best 
fishing  in  the  islands  may  be  obtained,  by  trolHng  from  a 
light  launch.  A  coral  shoal  may  be  easily  distinguished  in 
fair  weather  by  the  color  of  the  sea.  The  sea  is  usually  a 
deep  blue,  but  near  a  shoal  it  takes  on  various  shades  of 
pale  green  that  are  easily  detected. 

All  this  of  course  is  when  the  sea  is  calm  and  the  weather 
is  fine.  It  is  all  changed  in  rough  weather.  I  have  lost  all 
desire  to  cruise  among  the  Philippine  Islands  when  a  typhoon 
signal  is  up.  No  matter  where  the  typhoon  may  be  lo- 
cated, if  in  Philippine  waters,  the  storm  is  of  such  vast  extent 
that  there  is  sure  to  be  much  wind  and  rough  waves,  no 
matter  if  the  storm  center  is  a  hundred  miles  away.  One 
time  I  crossed  the  Sulu  Sea,  from  Puerto  Princesa,  Palawan, 
to  San  Jose,  Antique,  in  a  coast-guard  cutter,  when  a  south- 

(140) 


INTER-ISLAND  TRAVEL.  14i 

west  monsoon  was  fairly  whooping  things  up.  The  waves 
fairly  stood  our  little  steamer  on  her  head  sometimes  and  at 
other  times  she  would  lurch  sideways  until  the  life-boats 
swinging  opposite  the  upper  deck  would  dip  into  the  sea. 
For  twenty-four  hours  no  food  was  on  the  table.  It  wouldn't 
have  remained  there  anyway,  and  besides,  we  were  not  par- 
ticularly hungry  under  the  circumstances.  I  remember  that 
at  one  time  I  stood  in  my  stateroom  with  half  a  cup  of  coffee 
firmly  held  in  both  hands — and  then  spilled  it.  At  another 
time  I  was  sitting  in  a  chair  at  the  rear  of  my  room  when  the 
boat  gave  a  great  lunge  and  the  chair  started  to  slide.  I 
put  both  feet  on  the  floor  and  tried  to  stop,  but  I  continued 
to  slide  clear  to  the  door,  which  I  grabbed  and  sat  there 
looking  across  the  slanting  deck  down  into  a  hole  in  the  sea 
that  looked  tremendously  deep.  The  next  moment  we  were 
wafted  up  on  the  crest  of  another  big  wave  and  were  then 
ready  for  another  downward  plunge.  You  can  call  that  fun 
if  you  want  to,  but  somehow  I  failed  to  enjoy  it.  There  is 
always  the  suspicion  when  you  take  one  of  those  plunges  and 
the  waves  break  over  the  deck  that  possibly  the  boat  will  not 
rise  out  of  it.  That  would  be  a  decidedly  unpleasant  pre- 
dicament, and  one  can't  help  thinking  about  it  at  such 
times. 

My  destination  was  San  Jose,  which  we  reached  at  4 :  30  in 
the  morning.  The  captain  called  me  and  pointing  off  through 
the  gray  mist,  tumbling  waves  and  flying  spray,  said: 
"There's  your  town  over  there."  It  was  about  a  mile 
away,  and  there  was  no  harbor,  which  meant  go  ashore  in  a 
small  boat  if  at  all.  I  asked  the  captain  if  it  was  dangerous 
to  attempt  to  go  ashore,  and  he  replied:  ''It  is  not  only 
dangerous,  it  is  impossible."  That  settled  it  for  me,  as  I 
assure  you  I  had  no  desire  to  attempt  to  perform  the  impos- 
sible that  morning,  so  I  haven't  been  to  San  Jose  yet.    We 


142  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

headed  down  the  Panay  coast  for  the  harbor  at  Iloilo.  Num- 
ber two  typhoon  signal  was  flying,  and  just  as  we  were 
threading  our  way  through  the  shoals  getting  into  port  a 
squall  struck  us.  Rain  came  in  torrents  until  one  could  not 
see  ten  feet  away  from  the  boat.  I  never  saw  a  captain  get 
busy  so  quickly.  He  cussed  in  several  languages,  but  finally 
got  the  anchor  heaved  over,  and  we  held  our  own  until  things 
cleared  up  a  little  and  we  were  able  to  make  the  harbor.  I 
never  was  so  glad  to  get  my  feet  onto  something  solid  as  I 
was  that  day  when  I  got  out  onto  the  concrete  wharf  at 
Iloilo.  In  fact,  I  had  been  rocked  so  much  that  for  a  time 
after  landing  it  seemed  to  me  that  the  solid  wharf  was  pitch- 
ing and  bucking  like  a  broncho.  I  am  no  great  hand  for 
this  "life  on  the  ocean  wave''  business,  especially  if  there 
happens  to  be  much  of  a  wave.  It  is  decidedly  disconcert- 
ing to  a  tenderfoot  from  the  reliable  plains  of  Kansas. 

Another  queer  thing  encountered  in  inter-island  travel  is 
the  ocean  currents.  The  ocean  flows  in  regular  rivers  be- 
tween some  of  the  islands.  In  places  one  can  easily  locate 
these  streams  flowing  along  a  mile  or  two  in  width,  flowing 
steadily,  often  rapidly.  One  place  in  the  archipelago  there 
is  always  rough  water — the  San  Bernardino  Straights  near 
the  southern  extrmity  of  the  island  of  Luzon.  That  place 
is  the  English  Channel  of  the  Philippines,  and  few  people 
make  the  trip  through  the  Straits  without  becoming  seasick. 
That's  where  I  got  mine,  all  right.  It  was  the  only  time  I 
have  been  seasick  in  all  my  travels  over  here,  and  I  have  had 
some  rough  experiences.  But  I  was  sick  enough  then  to 
make  up  for  lost  time.  I  was  on  the  steamer  Alhay  going 
from  Manila  to  Legaspi  in  the  province  of  Albay.  It  is  really 
too  serious  a  topic  to  write  about. 

It  was  on  this  same  trip  that  I  witnessed  one  of  the  pret- 
tiest sights  I  have  seen  over  here.    After  coming  out  of  the 


INTER-ISLAND  TRAVEL.  143 

Straits  and  rounding  the  southern  part  of  the  island  of  Lu- 
zon, there  is  a  long  stretch  of  coral  reefs  extending  for  miles 
along  the  shore,  averaging  about  a  mile  away  from  the  shore 
and  parallel  with  the  same.  The  long  reef  is  submerged,  but 
it  takes  the  full  surge  of  the  Pacific,  acting  as  a  break-water. 
From  the  reef  back  to  the  green  shore  there  is  quiet  water 
nearly  a  mile  wide  all  up  and  down  the  coast.  But  as  the 
sweep  of  the  waters  of  the  Pacific  met  this  coral  barrier 
they  spouted  up  into  the  air  like  great  fountains.  There  was 
a  continuous  display  all  along  the  coast  for  miles.  No  part 
of  the  reef  was  visible,  but  it  was  there  firmly  enough,  for 
the  water  spouted  straight  up  into  the  air  sometimes  fifteen 
to  twenty  feet  high.  At  hundreds  of  places  along  the  line 
these  displays  were  going  on,  constantly  changing,  the  white 
spray  shooting  in  all  directions.  Behind  all  the  display  was 
quiet  water  clear  back  to  the  green  shore.  It  was  a  novel, 
pretty  and  interesting  sight  in  mild  weather.  I  can't  imagine 
what  it  would  look  like  in  a  storm. 

I  like  the  sea  when  it  behaves  itself.  I  don't  know  where 
I  learned  to  like  it,  having  spent  all  my  life  in  an  inland 
state  until  I  came  to  the  Philippines.  Possibly  this  desire 
for  the  sea  dates  back  to  my  Irish  ancestry.  I  have  been 
told  that  my  great-great  grandfather  was  an  Irish  sea  captain. 
Even  here  in  Manila,  wife  and  I  go  over  to  the  bay  quite 
often  and  sit  on  the  big  rocks  on  the  shore  until  the  sun 
sinks  behind  the  mountains  across  the  bay,  away  over  toward 
Corregidor,  and  the  twilight  falls  and  the  lights  twinkle 
over  at  Cavite  and  the  ships  in  the  harbor  are  merely  out- 
lined by  their  lights  in  the  gathering  dusk,  and  it  all  has  a 
charm  for  me. 

There  are  at  this  writing  about  a  dozen  German  steamers 
in  the  bay  that  have  been  here  since  August,  1914,  when 
they  headed  for  this  neutral  port  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war. 


144 A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

They  are  beginning  to  look  rather  weather-beaten  and  de- 
serted, as  they  have  been  wabbling  around  at  anchor  for 
nearly  two  years.  Then  there  are  always  several  steamers 
in  the  bay,  new  arrivals  and  boats  loading  or  ready  to  de- 
part. There  are  occasional  warships,  torpedo  boats,  little 
chugging  gasoline  launches,  pretty  sail-boats,  tugs,  lighters 
and  bancas,  and  it  all  makes  quite  an  animated  scene,  espe- 
cially interesting  to  us  because  it  is  all  so  strange  and  foreign 
to  anything  ever  seen  in  our  home  country.  We  average 
two  or  three  evenings  a  week  at  the  bay  shore,  and  there  is 
always  something  new  to  see.  I  am  getting  used  to  the 
people  and  their  manners,  customs  and  dress ;  all  seem  quite 
common  and  the  natural  thing  after  a  residence  of  nearly 
two  years  in  the  Philippines  ;  but  the  sea  is  always  new  and 
interesting.  Whenever  I  see  a  big  steamer  swing  out  into 
the  bay  past  the  breakwater,  I  have  a  longing  to  be  on 
board,  whether  she  is  headed  for  America  or  not.  I  guess  I 
must  have  contracted  a  case  of  wanderlust,  for  I  really 
wouldn't  like  anything  better  than  to  go  on  a  long,  long 
cruise  on  some  good  ship  with  congenial  company,  with  the 
proviso  that  she  would,  of  course,  land  us  some  day  back  on 
the  shores  of  good  old  America. 

It  is  pleasant  as  can  be  over  here.  I  know  of  shrubs  that 
have  had  blossoms  on  them  every  month  in  the  year  ever 
since  we  have  been  here.  Last  week  passengers  arriving 
from  America  said  they  were  in  quite  a  snow-storm  at  Yoko- 
hama, Japan,  as  they  were  coming  over.  It  seems  queer  to 
even  think  of  such  a  thing  here.  Snow,  sleet,  hail,  frost, 
even  chilly  winds,  are  all  unknown  to  the  Filipino  unless  he 
has  been  away  from  home.  There  is  snow  in  the  Orient,  but 
it  is  so  far  north  of  this  country  that  even  the  frosty  breath 
of  it  is  never  wafted  to  these  favored  isles. 

It  has  now  been  about  two  years  sjnce  we  left  home.    In 


INTER-ISLAND  TRAVEL.  145 

fact,  it  will  be  three  years  in  September  since  I  left  the  old 
print  shop  and  went  home  to  wrestle  with  typhoid  fever. 
And  I  haven't  had  much  to  do  with  the  old  home  paper 
since  that  time.  It  really  doesn't  seem  so  long  since  that 
September  day  in  1913  when  I  left  the  office  so  terribly  tired. 
I  didn't  realize  then  that  I  was  to  have  typhoid,  or  to  visit 
Dr.  Axtell,  or  go  to  the  Philippines,  or  give  up  work  in  the 
newspaper  shop  where  I  had  grown  to  be  a  regular  fixture 
during  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  of  continuous  service. 
But  one  can't  always  tell  about  such  things,  anyway.  I  am 
at  least  glad  to  be  alive  and  kicking,  and  glad  to  get  the  old 
home  paper  regularly.  I  drop  everything  when  it  comes 
and  rip  the  wrapper  off,  for  it  contains  news  from  home,  and 
every  type  in  it  is  a  familiar  face.  I  am  in  good  health  and 
feeling  fine,  although  what  little  hair  I  have  left  is  beginning 
to  look  quite  silvery.  Can  it  be  possible  that  I  am  getting 
old?  Mrs.  Cretcher  has  better  health  here  than  she  ever 
had  at  home  and  likes  the  country  fine.  It  just  suits  her. 
She  takes  spells  when  she  declares  the  weather  is  cold,  and 
wraps  herself  in  a  steamer  rug.  It  makes  me  perspire  just 
to  look  at  her.  It  is  just  a  delusion.  It  is  never  cold  here, 
but  it  must  be  fine  to  think  it  is.  I  can't  fool  myself  that 
way.     I've  tried  it. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

AGRICULTURE  AND  EDUCATION. 

Manila,  July  30,  1916. 
Since  writing  you  last  I  have  received  a  promotion.  By 
authority  of  Governor-General  Harrison,  confirmed  by  the 
Philippine  Conmaission,  I  have  been  appointed  Assistant  Di- 
rector of  Agriculture  and  chief  of  the  Administrative  Divi- 
sion of  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture,  effective  July  1,  1916. 
Mr.  Hernandez,  who  is  now  Director,  is  at  present  on  an 
extended  trip  of  inspection  in  the  provinces,  and  I  am  in  full 
charge  of  the  Bureau  during  his  absence.  I  have  not  written 
much  concerning  the  activities  of  this  Bureau.  It  has  over 
800  employees  at  the  present  time,  so  you  may  know  there 
is  some  responsibility  in  directing  this  work.  The  direction 
of  the  Administrative  Division  alone  is  a  fairly  large  job. 
These  employees  are  paid  twice  a  month.  That  means  a 
good  many  government  warrants  have  to  be  issued,  every 
one  of  which  I  must  sign.  Warrants  are  also  written  cover- 
ing traveling  expenses  of  all  field  employees  and  for  every- 
thing purchased  by  the  Bureau.  Every  requisition  for  sup- 
phes,  no  matter  how  small,  passes  through  my  hands  for  ap- 
proval and  signature.  All  correspondence  with  the  Insular 
Auditor  and  the  Director  of  Civil  Service  regarding  these 
800  employees  bears  my  signature.  Also  all  vouchers  must 
be  signed  by  me,  besides  all  the  regular  correspondence  of 
the  Bureau  now  that  the  Director  is  absent.  I  have  not 
kept  count,  but  I  would  venture  the  guess  that  from  300  to 
500  papers,  warrants,  requisitions,  vouchers,  letters  and  doc- 
uments pass  through  my  hands  every  day  for  approval  and 

(146) 


AGRICULTURE  AND  EDUCATION,  147 

signature,  so  you  may  know  my  time  is  reasonably  well  oc- 
cupied during  business  hours. 

There  are  six  grand  divisions  in  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture, 
namely,  Animal  Husbandry,  Veterinary,  Administration, 
Demonstration  and  Extension,  Plant  Industry,  and  Fiber. 
Each  of  these  divisions  has  a  chief,  and  under  each  division 
there  are  various  branches,  designated  as  sections,  with  a 
chief  in  charge  of  each  section.  Under  thes^  section  chiefs 
the  activities  of  the  Bureau  are  carried  out  by  the  general 
office  and  field  force.  Take  for  example,  the  Administrative 
Division,  of  which  I  am  chief.  You  see  I  am  not  only  Act- 
ing Director  and  Assistant  Director,  but  also  in  active  charge 
of  the  Administrative  Division.  This  division  is  divided 
into  the  following  sections :  General  service,  accounting > 
property,  records,  publications,  statistics,  construction  and 
repair,  and  American  colonies.  And  this  is  only  one  of  the 
six  big  divisions.  Animal  Husbandry  is  divided  into  animal 
selection  and  distribution,  improved  breeding,  and  poultry. 
Veterinary  has  disease  control,  quarantine  and  meat  in- 
spection, and  veterinary  research.  Demonstration  and  Ex- 
tension includes  agricultural  demonstration,  cooperative  or- 
ganization and  marketing  (the  job  I  used  to  have),  rural 
credit  and  work  animal  insurance.  The  Plant  Industry  di- 
rects the  sections  of  agronomy,  horticulture  and  pest  con- 
trol, and  the  Fiber  Division  includes  the  sections  of  fiber  in- 
vestigation and  government  fiber  inspection. 

Under  these  various  divisions  and  sections  are  grouped 
such  experts  as  sugar  technologists,  tobacco  experts,  agricul- 
tural inspectors,  fiber  experts,  superintendents  of  experiment 
stations  and  stock  farms,  besides  the  large  clerical  and  ex- 
ecutive force  stationed  permanently  at  the  central  office  of 
the  Bureau.  From  the  above  you  can  see  that  as  a  new 
man  on  this  job  of  being  the  executive  and  administrative 


148  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

head  of  this  force  I  haven't  much  time  to  become  either 
homesick  or  lonesome.  I  hope  the  Director  will  return  soon. 
My  job  as  assistant  is  big  enough  for  the  time  being,  without 
trying  to  be  Director  also. 

Agriculture  is  in  a  primitive  state  here.  In  fact,  back 
home  it  wouldn't  be  called  agriculture.  The  people  are  poor 
and  have  much  to  contend  with.  They  have  few  work  ani- 
mals, and  the  few  they  have  often  die  with  a  sickness  called 
rinderpest.  The  locusts  are  also  a  great  pest.  They  are 
the  same  kind  as  those  old,  long,  migratory  grasshoppers 
that  devastated  Kansas  in  1874.  They  are  present  in  some 
part  of  the  Islands  all  the  time.  They  breed  in  the  moun- 
tains and  waste  places,  and  suddenly  swoop  out  in  great 
swarms  and  destroy  the  crops,  and  it  seems  almost  impossible 
to  rid  the  country  of  them.  Our  Bureau  is  doing  all  it  can 
to  improve  agricultural  conditions,  but  if  a  Kansas  farmer 
could  see  our  line  of  so-called  ** modern"  farm  machinery  he 
would  certainly  laugh  at  it.  Yet  these  people  must  crawl 
before  they  walk,  and  it  is  a  big  step  from  an  old  wooden 
plow  and  bamboo  harrow  to  the  "modern"  little  one-handled 
iron  plow  and  sectional  steel  harrow.  Besides,  they  haven't 
the  animals  to  handle  big  machinery  even  if  it  were  avail- 
able, so  for  some  time  to  come  such  machinery  would  be 
useless.  Their  work  animals  are  mostly  carabaos  (water 
buffaloes).  They  are  great  big  slow-moving  brutes,  but  they 
are  about  the  only  animal  that  can  be  worked  in  a  rice  paddy 
on  account  of  the  mud. 

One  of  the  big  exports  from  the  Philippines  is  copra.  Do 
you  know  what  that  is?  It  is  the  dried  meat  of  cocoanuts. 
The  farmer  who  grows  cocoanuts  has  a  much  more  attrac- 
tive occupation  than  that  of  the  rice  grower.  A  cocoanut 
plantation  is  a  pretty  sight.  The  trees  are  tall,  slender  and 
graceful.     The  nuts  are  gathered,  husked,  split  open,  and 


AGRICULTURE  AND  EDUCATION.  149 

the  meat  dried,  either  in  the  sun  or  in  drying  frames  over 
a  slow  fire.  This  product  known  as  copra  is  then  shipped 
all  over  the  world.  Copra  contains  an  oil  which  is  used 
in  making  soap,  toilet  articles,  butter  and  many  other  prepa- 
rations. 

Ever  hear  of  abaca?  That  is  another  big  export  product. 
Abaca,  or  Manila  hemp,  is  a  fiber  taken  from  a  plant  called 
wild  banana.  In  fact,  it  is  hard  for  a  tenderfoot  to  tell  an 
abaca  plant  from  the  regular  banana.  Some  of  this  abaca 
fiber,  when  properly  stripped,  is  beautiful.  The  strands  are 
sometimes  over  twelve  feet  long,  very  strong,  white  and  sil- 
very. This  is  the  only  country  that  produces  this  fiber  in 
quantities.  The  best  quality  is  used  for  the  manufacture 
of  hats,  braids,  etc.,  and  the  other  grades  are  used  for  mak- 
ing rope,  cordage  and  twine.  It  is  the  toughest,  strongest 
fiber  in  the  world.  There  is  a  big  export  trade  in  abaca, 
England,  Japan,  and  the  United  States  being  the  heaviest 
buyers.  Japan  buys  only  the  best  grades.  Nearly  every 
steamer  goes  out  loaded  with  bales  that  have  been  inspected 
and  graded  by  the  government. 

The  most  influential  farmers  in  the  Islands  are  the  sugar 
planters.  Many  of  them  are  wealthy,  have  big  estates,  use 
real  modern  farm  implements,  and  are  wide  awake.  Yet 
most  of  the  sugar  produced  is  of  poor  quality  on  account  of 
being  made  in  very  crude  mills.  Modern  sugar  mills  cost  a 
lot  of  money,  but  several  localities  are  putting  in  central 
factories,  and  there  promises  to  be  a  big  development  of  the 
sugar  industry  during  the  next  few  years. 

The  country  does  not  grow  enough  rice  to  supply  the  home 
demand.  Over  three  million  pesos  worth  of  rice  was  shipped 
into  the  Philippines  last  year.  Rice  is  the  staple  food  for 
more  than  half  the  people  of  the  world,  but  instead  of  grow- 
ing it  on  a  big  scale  as  they  do  in  Louisiana  and  Texas,  the 


150  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

people  here  puddle  around  in  little  fields  often  less  than  one 
hundred  feet  square,  wallow  through  mud  and  water  with  a 
carabao  and  an  old  wooden  plow,  plant  the  crop  by  hand,  a 
stalk  at  a  time,  harvest  it  with  a  hand-sickle,  thresh  it  by- 
tramping  the  grain  out  with  their  feet  or  with  the  carabao 's 
feet,  hull  it  by  pounding  it  with  a  club  in  a  thing  that  looks 
like  a  hollow  stump,  and  finally  get  it  ready  to  eat  if  the 
locusts  don't  beat  them  to  it.  No  wonder  the  copra,  abaca 
and  sugar  farmers  are  in  the  majority.  I  wouldn't  grow 
rice  that  way,  either,  if  I  could  make  a  living  any  other  way. 
Of  course  rice  is  produced  in  some  localities  on  a  more  mod- 
ern plan,  but  such  places  are  few  and  far  between. 

Tobacco  of  good  quality  is  grown  here,  and  cigars  are  very 
cheap,  so  cheap  that  nearly  everybody  smokes.  Cigars  as 
good  as  the  average  five-cent  cigars  at  home  can  be  bought 
here  at  four  for  a  nickel,  and  other  grades  in  proportion. 
There  are  several  large  cigar  factories  in  Manila,  and  mil- 
lions of  cigars  and  cigarettes  are  exported.  Practicall}'-  none 
of  the  tobacco  is  manufactured  into  chewing  tobacco.  The 
native  chews  beetle-nut,  and  the  American  who  chews  gets 
his  favorite  brand  from  home.  The  choicest  tobacco  in  the 
Islands  comes  from  the  provinces  of  Cagayan  and  Isabela  in 
northern  Luzon. 

In  this  land  of  the  cocoanut,  few  ripe  nuts  are  eaten  by 
the  people.  The  children  back  home  who  crack  a  cocoanut 
at  Christmas  time  and  think  they  have  quite  a  treat,  may 
be  surprised  to  learn  that  here  where  the  nuts  grow  the  meat 
is  seldom  eaten  after  it  becomes  hard.  The  delicacy  here 
is  to  open  a  green  nut,  scoop  out  the  soft,  slippery  pulp  with 
a  spoon,  add  sugar  and  the  milk  of  the  cocoanut,  stir  it  well, 
and  then  drink  it.  I  have  tried  it,  and  do  not  relish  it.  It 
is  too  much  like  trying  to  suck  an  egg.  Sometimes  the 
meat  of  the  nut  is  ground  and  made  into  a  confection  that 


AGRICULTURE  AND  EDUCATION.  151 

is  pretty  good,  but  you  can  travel  for  miles  through  cocoa- 
nut  groves  and  not  see  one  person  eating  the  nuts.  The 
nuts  are  nearly  all  made  into  copra.  Sugar-cane  is  a  much 
greater  favorite  with  the  Filipinos  than  the  cocoanut.  The 
cane  is  cut  up  into  joints,  and  is  on  sale  at  nearly  every 
store  as  a  *'dulce,"  or  sweet,  and  whenever  one  goes  out  in 
the  provinces  people  may  be  seen  peeling  a  joint  of  sugar- 
cane and  chewing  away  on  the  pulp.  The  children  seem  es- 
pecially fond  of  the  cane,  and  I  presume  it  is  pretty  good.  I 
can  remember  how  I  used  to  chew  sorghum-cane  with  great 
relish  as  a  kid  during  the  pioneer  days  in  Kansas,  and  I 
presume  the  real  sugar-cane  is  a  much  better  article,  al- 
though I  haven't  tried  it. 

The  fruits  here  are  nearly  all  strange  to  Americans,  all  ex- 
cept possibly  the  oranges  and  bananas.  The  native  oranges  are 
of  poor  quality,  but  some  of  the  bananas  are  the  finest  I  ever 
tasted.  There  are  hundreds  of  varieties,  and  one  seldom 
knows  what  he  will  get  until  the  fruit  is  peeled  and  tasted. 
Other  native  fruits  are  strangers,  and  the  taste  for  most  of 
them  needs  to  be  acquired.  There  are  mangoes,  lanzons, 
chicoes,  mangosteens,  duhats,  papayas,  and  many  other  va- 
rieties. I  never  will  forget  the  first  mango  I  tackled.  It 
tasted  like  somebody  had  spilled  turpentine  or  carbide  on  it. 
I  couldn't  eat  it  at  all.  Now  I  think  it  one  of  the  finest  of 
fruits.     It  is  certainly  the  king  of  fruits  in  the  Philippmes. 

Fish  are  so  plentiful  that  people  seldom  think  of  fishing 
for  sport,  except  fellows  who  have  plenty  of  time  and  money 
and  can  hire  a  cutter  and  go  off  on  a  two-weeks'  cruise  and 
troll  in  a  gasoline  launch  on  the  coral  shoals  for  big  fish.  I 
have  tried  that  once  or  twice.  It  is  great  sport  if  the  weather 
is  cloudy.  If  the  sun  shines,  the  reflection  on  the  water 
fairly  blisters  one,  and  then  there  is  a  week  or  two  of  paying 
for  the  fun  while  the  skin  peels.    Fish  are  so  plentiful  that 


152  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

if  a  man  went  out  and  tried  to  catch  a  few  with  a  pole  and 
line  the  people  would  think  there  was  something  the  matter 
with  him.  Why  fish,  when  you  can  take  your  pick  from  a 
boatload  for  ten  centavos?  Then  again,  in  the  bay  and 
rivers  around  Manila  there  is  always  the  suspicion  that  the 
fish  may  not  be  very  good  to  eat,  so  there  is  not  much  local 
sport  with  the  fishing  line. 

I  have  already  told  you  something  about  the  Bureau  of 
Agriculture.  Possibly  you  v/ould  be  interested  in  the  work 
of  another  Bureau  over  here,  the  Bureau  of  Education.  It 
is  so  much  bigger  than  our  Bureau  that  we  can't  make  much 
of  a  comparison.  The  Bureau  of  Education  has  10,420  Fili- 
pino and  503  American  employees  on  its  pay-roll,  a  grand 
total  of  nearly  11,000  employees.  The  total  amount  ex- 
pended for.  educational  purposes  annually  is  above  four  mil- 
lion dollars.  There  are  over  600,000  children  in  the  public 
schools  here  today,  and  at  least  300,000  more  that  would 
gladly  go  to  school  if  they  had  the  chance,  but  funds  are  not 
available  to  furnish  them  educational  advantages.  These 
schools  are  not  confined  to  the  enlightened  districts,  either. 
There  are  pubUc  schools  up  among  the  Igorots  in  the  moun- 
tains and  down  among  the  Moros  of  Mindanao  and  Sulu. 

The  school  buildings  are  not  all  temporary  structures.  These 
buildings  are  in  most  instances  of  reinforced  concrete  built 
on  a  standard  plan,  of  unit  construction  so  that  they  may 
be  enlarged  and  extended  when  necessary.  Some  of  the 
most  modern  school  buildings  I  have  ever  seen  are  right  here 
in  the  PhiUppines,  and  yet  you  folks  grin  and  talk  about  our 
being  out  here  ''among  the  heathen."  And  all  this  educa- 
tional system  has  been  built  since  American  occupation 
eighteen  years  ago  next  month.  Before  that  time  the  poorer 
classes  had  no  hope  of  ever  attaining  an  education,  for  edu- 


AGRICULTURE  AND  EDUCATION.  153 

cation  was  then  only  for  the  chosen  few — decidedly  few  from 
what  I  can  learn. 

Of  course  Philippine  schools  are  not  up  to  the  standard  of 
our  schools  at  home  in  some  ways,  but  to  be  candid,  they 
are  better  in  some  respects,  in  agricultural  and  industrial 
training,  for  instance.  School  gardens  are  a  feature  of 
nearly  every  rural  school,  and  teachers  and  supervisors  give 
much  care  to  supervision  of  home  gardens  of  the  students  as 
well.  Each  province  has  its  trade  school,  and  industrial 
work  is  taught  in  all  public  schools.  Boys  are  taught  gar- 
dening, basket-making,  furniture-making  and  other  indus- 
tries, and  the  girls  are  given  instruction  in  domestic  science, 
commercial  embroidery,  and  many  other  useful  occupations, 
depending  on  the  locality. 

True,  the  English  in  these  schools  may  not  be  up  to  your 
ideas  of  the  mother  tongue,  but  the  children  are  learning. 
It  was  all  new  to  them.  In  many  instances  they  are  now 
being  instructed  by  Filipino  teachers  who  know  but  little 
more  of  correct  English  than  the  students  themselves.  But 
what  more  could  one  expect?  The  country  is  miserably 
poor.  There  is  a  cry  from  all  quarters  for  education.  There 
is  not  enough  money  to  pay  for  the  educational  system  as  it 
is  run  now,  let  alone  trying  to  fill  all  the  teaching  positions 
with  high-priced  American  teachers.  All  are  doing  their 
level  best,  and  under  the  circumstances  it  is  really  a  great 
work.  Think  of  600,000  boys  and  girls  learning  to  read,  to 
write  and  to  work  intelligently  who  never  had  such  an  op- 
portunity before.  They  may  not  be  learning  the  best  of 
English,  but  they  are  getting  some  knowledge  of  it,  and  at 
the  same  time  are  being  taught  some  useful  vocation,  some- 
thing that  will  help  them  make  a  living,  and  that  is  some- 
thing in  which  our  schools  at  home  are  deficient  at  the  pres- 
ent time. 


154  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

People  are  much  the  same  the  world  over,  and  the  young- 
sters of  the  Philippines  are  no  exception.  Many,  too  many, 
of  the  young  men,  especially  near  the  big  towns,  have  the 
idea  that  the  one  ambition  in  life  should  be  to  obtain  a 
clerkship,  a  government  job,  or  to  become  a  doctor  or  a 
lawyer.  They  want  a  job  that  will  permit  them  to  wear  good 
clothes.  They  want  to  carry  a  fountain  pen.  They  have  a 
burning  desire  to  be  big  and  important.  It  is  not  a  dis- 
creditable ambition,  either.  But  a  country  can't  be  all  doc- 
tors, lawyers  and  clerks.  Somebody  has  to  do  the  indus- 
trial work.  Somebody  must  cultivate  the  soil.  The  young 
people,  not  only  in  the  Philippines  but  in  America  as  well, 
need  to  be  taught  that  work  is  honorable,  no  matter  what 
the  honest  labor  may  be.  That  honest  service  is  the  most 
important  thing  in  life.  That's  why  the  educational  work 
here  along  agricultural  and  industrial  lines  deserves  credit. 
That  is  why  our  schools  at  home  should  do  more  of  this 
same  kind  of  educational  work.  Over  here  a  lawyer  is 
termed  an  "abogado"  in  Spanish,  and  you  would  be  sur- 
prised to  see  the  number  of  ''abogados"  and  ''medicos" 
that  are  being  turned  out.  The  field  is  already  overcrowded, 
and  yet  I  can  hardly  blame  a  young  fellow  for  wanting  to 
be  an  "abogado"  or  a  "medico,"  in  preference  to  tramping 
around  in  mud  up  to  his  knees  behind  a  carabao  in  a  rice 
paddy.  If  it  came  to  a  choice  between  that  kind  of  farm- 
ing and  being  an  ''abogado,"  I  believe  I  would  prefer  to  be 
an  "abogado,"  too. 

I  have  met  many  of  the  children  in  my  travels  and  I  hke 
them.  They  are  bright,  quick  to  learn,  intelligent  and  very 
interesting.  Some  of  them  are  very  good  looking,  with  their 
beautiful  bright  eyes,  brown  skin,  pearly  white  teeth,  and 
sound  bodies.  I  look  at  them  and  often  wonder  if  they  will 
continue  as  bright  and  interesting  when  they  attain  manhood 


AGRICULTURE  AND  EDUCATION.  155 

and  womanhood,  or  if  they  will  deteriorate  into  the  careless, 
listless  condition  of  so  many  of  the  middle  class  people  of 
today.  I  sincerely  hope  not.  If  the  tropical  climate  turns 
these  bright  boys  and  girls  into  such  men  and  women  as 
some  of  those  found  in  these  Islands  today,  it  is  really  too 
bad,  and  they  should  be  sent  some  place  where  they  would 
have  a  better  chance.  But  I  really  do  not  believe  they  have 
such  a  future  in  store.  They  are  too  bright,  too  keen,  too 
quick  to  learn.  I  believe  that  the  next  generation  will  show 
much  improvement,  and  that  as  time  goes  on  the  race  is 
sure  to  improve  and  profit  by  the  lessons  of  health,  sanita- 
tion, business  integrity  and  general  educational  advantages 
that  we  have  brought  to  them.  Possibly  the  wish  is  father 
of  the  thought,  but  I  am  hopeful  for  the  younger  generation. 
It  doesn't  seem  possible  that  the  benefits  of  education  could 
be  extended  to  over  half  a  million  young  people  annually 
without  having  great  and  lasting  results. 

I  am  intensely  interested  in  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture, 
because  that  is  where  my  work  is,  but  I  do  not  underestimate 
the  great  work  that  is  being  accomplished  by  the  Bureau  of 
Education  with  its  11,000  enthusiastic  Filipino  and  American 
employees.  So  if  you  happen  to  think  about  these  Islands, 
do  not  become  puffed  up  with  your  own  complacent  im- 
portance and  imagine  that  all  the  rest  of  the  country  is 
''heathen.''  The  way  the  people  of  Europe  have  been  act- 
ing for  the  past  two  years  would  indicate  that  there  is  more 
''heathen"  element  in  that  highly  civilized  land  than  could 
ever  be  assembled  in  these  favored  islands.  FiUpinos  are  a 
good  deal  better  off  and  happier  by  far  right  now  than  most 
of  the  boasted  nations  of  Europe. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

LUZON. 

Manila,  August  14,  1916. 

Most  of  the  letters  I  have  written  have  been  of  personal 
experiences  and  observation,  the  Httle  happenings  that  have 
served  to  make  like  interesting  for  the  Kansas  tenderfoot  in 
the  Tropics,  because  I  thought  they  might  interest  your 
readers.  However,  it  seems  to  me  that  a  little  information 
about  the  Islands  in  a  general  way  would  also  be  interesting. 
How  much  do  you  know  about  the  PhiUppine  Islands,  any- 
way? How  much  does  the  average  man  at  home  know 
about  them?  Well,  if  he  doesn't  know  any  more  about  them 
than  I  did  when  I  sailed  from  San  Francisco,  he  isn't  over- 
burdened with  information.  There  are  hundreds  of  islands 
in  the  Philippine  archipelago.  How  many  of  them  can  you 
name?  Let's  begin  with  the  island  of  Luzon.  It  is  prob- 
ably the  largest  island  in  the  group,  with  Mindanao  a  close 
second.  Luzon  is  the  most  northern  island  of  the  archipelago 
that  is  of  any  size.  The  little  group  of  islands  called  the 
Batanes  are  still  north  of  Luzon,  but  they  are  of  Httle  im- 
portance. Luzon,  then,  is  the  most  northern  and  by  far 
the  most  important  island  of  the  Philippines.  It  is  a  long, 
irregular  island,  extending  over  450  miles  from  north  to 
south  and  probably  120  miles  wide  at  the  widest  part.  That 
statement  shows  that  it  is  longer  than  the  state  of  Kansas, 
but  much  narrower.  It  does  not  contain  near  the  area  of 
Kansas,  as  in  places  the  island  is  quite  narrow. 

Manila,  the  most  important  city  in  the  Phihppines,  is  lo- 
cated on  Manila  Bay  on  the  west  coast  of  the  island  of 

(156) 


LUZON.  157 


Luzon,  about  midway  of  the  island  from  north  to  south. 
Manila  and  the  provinces  close  adjoining  are  the  home  of 
the  Tagalog  FiHpino  people,  probably  the  dominant  native 
class,  although  the  Visayan  and  other  sections  would  no 
doubt  question  this  statement.  Much  of  the  fighting  with 
the  American  troops  took  place  in  and  around  Manila,  so 
that  names  like  Corregidor,  the  island  fort  at  the  entrance  to 
Manila  Bay,  Cavite,  where  Dewey  pounded  the  Spanish  fleet 
and  where  the  first  American  troops  landed,  Caloocan,  Cal- 
umpit,  San  Mateo,  and  towns  on  Laguna  de  Bay,  are  all 
rather  familiar  to  Americans,  or  were  at  one  time. 

But  let's  return  to  an  inspection  of  this  big  island  of  Lu- 
zon, and  begin  at  the  extreme  north,  where  we  first  find  the 
great  tobacco-producing  provinces  of  Cagayan  and  Isabela, 
where  the  finest  tobacco  in  the  Islands  is  produced,  especially 
in  the  fertile  lands  along  the  Cagayan  River.  South  of  this 
the  land  becomes  mountainous  and  of  little  value  for  agri- 
cultural purposes.  This  great  territory  south  to  the  prov- 
ince of  Nueva  Ecija,  is  called  the  mountain  provinces,  with 
the  capital  at  Baguio  in  the  sub-province  of  Benguet,  at  an 
elevation  of  nearly  5,000  feet.  It  is  always  quite  cool  at 
Baguio,  and  the  town  is  therefore  quite  a  resort  for  the  people 
down  on  the  plains  of  central  Luzon,  who  swelter  in  heat  a 
good  part  of  the  year.  In  the  mountain  provinces  are  the 
wild  people  that  attract  so  much  attention  at  home,  and 
are  supposed  to  be  the  class  of  people  that  inhabit  the  whole 
of  the  Philippine  Islands.  There  are  many  different  tribes 
of  these  wild  folks.  They  are  not  even  called  Filipinos  by 
the  people  here,  and  in  fact  they  are  not  Filipinos.  They 
are  or  were  savages,  the  same  as  our  American  Indians.  But 
they  are  making  rapid  strides  in  civilization.  They  are 
anfxious  to  have  schools  established,  and  are  becoming  orderly 
much  more  quickly  than  did  our  Indians.     They  wear  huge 


158  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

brass  ornaments,  deck  their  hair  out  in  tufts  of  feathers,  beat 
brass  tom-toms,  and  put  on  fantastic  dances  very  much  re- 
sembling the  antics  of  our  Indians.  And  thieir  tribes,  the 
Igorots,  Bontocs,  Ifugaos,  Apayaos,  Kalingas,  Lepantos,  and 
many  others,  differ  in  characteristics  much  the  same  as  our 
Kiowas,  Cheyennes,  Apaches,  Osages,  Kaws,  and  so  on. 
They  are  strictly  mountain  people,  and  are  seldom  seen  in 
the  other  part  of  the  island.  They  are  good  specimens  phys- 
ically but  of  low  order  mentally. 

On  the  west  or  China  sea  coast  of  Luzon  from  the  extreme 
north  extending  down  the  coast  to  the  province  of  Pan- 
gasinan  are  the  provinces  of  Ilocos  Norte,  Ilocos  Sur,  and 
La  Union,  in  the  order  named.  This  is  the  land  of  the 
Ilocanos.  They  are  civiHzed,  hard  working  people,  probably 
the  most  industrious  people  in  the  Islands.  I  like  the  Ilo- 
canos. They  are  hospitable,  intelligent,  and  good  farmers 
as  farming  goes  in  the  Philippines.  Their  Ilocano  dialect  is 
a  separate  and  distinct  language  from  the  Tagalog  or  any  of 
the  other  local  tongues,  although  there  are  many  words  in 
common.  The  Ilocanos  are  hustlers,  and  are  moving  out 
from  their  home  provinces  and  homesteading  all  over  the 
northern  provinces,  something  the  average  Filipino  seldom 
does. 

The  next  big  province  to  the  south  is  Pangasinan,  which 
is  probably  the  richest  agricultural  province  in  the  Islands, 
rice  being  the  staple  crop.  The  people  of  this  province  also 
have  a  language  all  their  own.  Following  on  down  the  coast 
are  the  provinces  of  Zambales  and  Bataan,  which  are  on  the 
thumb  which  extends  from  Pangasinan  down  to  Corregidor 
at  the  entrance  to  Manila  Bay,  with  the  bay  on  the  Bataan 
province  side  and  Zambales  next  to  the  China  Sea.  These 
people  speak  Tagalog.  A  range  of  mountains  extends  down 
this  peninsula,  and  in  this  high  country  are  found  the  dwarf 


LUZON.  159 


Negritos  that  excited  so  much  curiosity  when  exhibited  at 
the  St.  Louis  fair.  They  are  few  in  numbers  and  are  seldom 
seen  except  by  the  few  adventurous  people  who  penetrate 
the  mountain  country. 

Coming  back  to  Pangasinan  for  a  new  start,  we  go  down 
through  the  interior  provinces  of  Central  Luzon,  the  granary 
of  the  Philippines.  These  provinces  are  Tarlac,  Pampanga, 
Nueva  Ecija,  Bulacan,  and  Rizal,  which  brings  you  down  to 
Manila.  All  this  country  is  well  developed,  traversed  by 
splendid  automobile  highways  and  by  railroads,  has  good 
towns,  schools,  churches  and  bridges,  and  many  of  the  towns 
have  waterworks,  electric  lights,  ice  plants,  etc.  In  fact 
the  town  of  Vigan,  away  up  in  Ilocos  Sur,  has  all  these  modern 
conveniences. 

Pampanga  is  a  fine  province,  but  is  handicapped  like  many 
of  the  others  by  having  a  language  all  its  own.  This  lack 
of  a  common  language  is  a  really  serious  handicap  to  the 
people. 

The  country  is  as  level  as  our  part  of  Kansas,  no  dividing 
lines,  nothing  to  separate  the  people  along  racial  lines  what- 
ever. What  would  you  think  of  a  situation  where  if  you 
went  from  Harvey  County  into  Sedgwick  County  you  would 
have  to  take  along  an  interpreter  if  you  wanted  to  talk  to 
the  people  there?  That's  exactly  the  situation  in  many  lo- 
calities that  are  side  by  side  here  in  Luzon.  Of  course  the 
better  classes  nearly  all  speak  some  Spanish,  and  the  younger 
generation  after  fifteen  years  of  schooling  have  a  partial 
knowledge  of  English,  but  some  of  it  is  fearful  and  wonderful 
English  that  would  puzzle  you  the  first  time  you  heard  it. 
But  even  at  that,  English  is  nearer  the  common  tongue  now 
than  any  other  language,  and  will  continue  to  meet  this  need 
more  and  more  as  time  goes  on. 

Clustered  around  Manila  are  the  Tagalog  provinces,  Ca- 


160  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

vite,  Laguna,  Batangas,  Tayabas,  Rizal,  Bulacan,  Nueva 
Ecija,  and  Bataan,  nearly  all  of  them  adjacent  to  Manila 
Bay.  This  territory  is  strictly  the  home  of  the  Tagalog.  It 
is  the  locality  where  insurrection  was  formulated,  and  where 
politics  is  at  fever  heat  a  good  share  of  the  time  right  now. 
A  railroad  runs  south  from  Manila  through  the  provinces  of 
Cavite,  Laguna,  and  Batangas,  and  also  to  the  town  of 
Lucena  in  Tayabas  province.  This  road  will  eventually 
connect  with  the  road  being  built  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  island,  and  will  then  give  rail  connection  clear  down  to 
the  extreme  southern  provinces  of  the  island. 

From  the  province  of  Tayabas,  the  island  narrows  down 
and  takes  a  big  swing  off  to  the  east  and  south,  and  away 
off  down  in  that  country  are  three  more  provinces,  Ambos 
Camarines,  Albay,  and  Sorsogon,  the  land  of  the  Bicols, 
another  tongue  and  class  of  people  as  distinct  from  the 
Tagalog  as  a  Scotchman  is  from  a  Frenchman,  although  on 
the  island  of  Luzon  the  Bicols  are  of  the  characteristics  of 
the  Visayans,  the  residents  of  the  big  group  of  southern 
islands  of  the  archipelago.  Their  language  has  many  words 
in  common  with  the  Visayan.  Of  course  they  have  good 
schools,  and  English  is  coming  into  use  the  same  as  in  all 
other  localities.  The  Bicols  are  a  fine,  intelligent,  indus- 
trious people.  The  production  of  abaca  (Manila  hemp)  is  a 
leading  industry  of  these  provinces,  although  they  grow  much 
rice,  corn  and  cocoanuts. 

This  practically  concludes  the  general  description  of  the 
big  island  of  Luzon,  as  the  province  of  Sorsogon  is  the  last 
province  on  the  south.  Of  course  in  a  letter  like  this  there 
is  no  room  to  go  into  a  detailed  description  of  the  island, 
province  by  province,  but  I  have  tried  to  give  you  in  a  gen- 
eral way  an  idea  of  what  this  big  island  is  like.  And  it  is 
a  big  island.     I  have  been  nearly  all  over  it  from  the  town 


LUZON.  161 


of  Laoag,  in  Ilocos  Norte,  clear  down  to  Sorsogon  and  Albay, 
and  it  is  a  very  interesting  country  indeed.  The  people  are 
all  kindly,  hospitable  and  anxious  to  learn,  especially  in  the 
provinces  away  from  Manila  and  its  political  influences. 
Luzon  is  the  most  important  and  attractive  island  in  the 
Philippines. 

No  doubt  the  term  '^ province"  seems  queer  to  you.  It 
did  to  me  at  first.  A  province  is  one  of  the  political  divi- 
sions of  this  country  much  resembling  a  county  at  home  as 
to  size  and  government.  Of  course  if  the  Philippine  govern- 
ment was  considered  as  a  distinct  nation,  then  the  provinces 
would  more  nearly  represent  our  states  as  we  have  them  at 
home.  The  government  here  under  American  supervision 
is  an  insular  possession.  The  capital  is,  of  course,  in  Ma- 
nila. The  supreme  authority  here  rests  with  the  Governor- 
General,  appointed  by  the  President  of  the  United  States. 
The  Philippine  Commission,  or  upper  house  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, is  also  an  appointive  body,  on  which  the  Filipinos  have 
a  majority,  the  present  American  members  being  the  Vice- 
Governor,  who  is  Secretary  of  Public  Instruction,  together 
with  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior,  and  the  Secretary  of 
Commerce  and  Police. 

The  Philippine  Assembly,  or  lower  house  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, is  elective,  composed  of  delegates  representing  the  vari- 
ous provinces  of  the  islands,  and  all  are  Filipinos.  The 
Assembly  and  Commission  make  the  laws  of  the  country, 
subject  to  the  approval  of  the  Governor-General.  The  prov- 
inces are  the  first  political  division  of  the  country,  and  are 
governed  by  a  Governor  and  a  Provincial  Board  elected  by 
the  people,  except  in  some  of  the  mountain  and  outpost 
provinces,  which  are  governed  by  the  commission  which  ap- 
points the  officials. 

The  provinces  are  divided  into  municipalities,  which  are 


162  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

locally  governed  by  an  elective  President  and  Municipal 
Council.  Following  the  old  Spanish  custom  the  "Presi- 
dente"  is  a  pretty  big  man  in  his  locality,  and  few  things 
are  done  without  his  sanction.  The  municipalities  are 
further  subdivided  into  localities  or  villages  called  ''barrios," 
controlled  by  a  'Heniente,"  which  is  the  lowest  subdivision, 
so  instead  of  townships,  county,  state  and  nation,  as  at 
home,  the  divisions  run  from  barrio,  municipality  and  prov- 
ince, up  to  the  insular  government  at  Manila,  which  will 
give  you  an  idea  of  the  way  things  are  run  over  here.  If 
this  letter  doesn't  prove  too  dry  and  uninteresting  I  may 
send  more  along  the  same  line  concerning  the  big  southern 
group  of  islands,  the  home  of  the  Visayans,  and  also  of 
Mindanao  and  Sulu,  the  home  of  the  Moros. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

THE  VISAYAS. 

Manila,  September  10,  1917. 

If  you  read  my  last  letter,  you  will  remember  that  I 
started  out  to  give  a  rather  general  description  of  the  Phil- 
ippines, and  devoted  that  letter  to  the  island  of  Luzon,  the 
most  important  island  of  the  archipelago.  Next  in  im- 
portance comes  the  Visayan  islands,  the  central  group  of 
the  Philippines,  composed  of  the  islands  of  Panay,  Negros, 
Cebu,  Bohol,  Samar,  Le5rte,  Palawan,  and  numerous  smaller 
islands.  Mindoro  is  in  this  central  group  also,  but  could 
hardly  be  called  Visayan  territory.  Neither  is  it  strictly 
Tagalog,  although  so  close  to  Luzon.  Mindoro  is  something 
of  a  mystery.  Other  islands  are  rather  thickly  populated, 
but  Mindoro  is  practically  unknown.  There  is  a  fringe  of 
population  around  the  shore  line,  but  the  interior  of  the  big 
island  is  practically  unknown  and  unexplored.  It  is  claimed 
that  but  one  white  man.  Dean  Worcester,  has  ever  crossed 
the  interior  of  Mindoro.  Why  the  island  has  remained  thus 
for  nearly  300  years  is  a  mystery.  It  is  said  that  there  is 
gold  in  abundance  on  this  island,  and  where  there  is  gold 
there  can  usually  be  found  white  men  willing  to  go  after  it, 
whether  in  the  frozen  north,  in  desert  waste  or  tropic  heat, 
but  Mindoro's  secrets  are  still  safely  hidden.  It  has  the 
reputation  of  being  an  unhealthy  place,  which  doubtless  ac- 
counts for  much  of  the  lack  of  development,  although  whj^ 
it  should  be  more  unhealthy  than  any  other  of  the  islands  is 
more  than  I  can  understand. 

But  it  is  a  condition  and  not  a  theory  that  I  am  trying 

(163) 


164  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

to  tell  about,  and  the  fact  is  that  Mindoro,  a  great,  big, 
rich  island,  right  under  Manila's  nose,  remains  practically 
as  unknown  and  undeveloped  as  when  Magellan  first  landed 
in  Cebu.  Especially  is  this  true  of  the  interior  of  the  island. 
I  have  never  set  foot  on  Mindoro,  although  I  have  sailed  all 
around  the  island  many  times  in  making  trips  to  the  Visayas- 
One  can  sail  all  day  long  by  the  shores  of  this  island,  its 
mountains  covered  with  splendid  timber,  its  valleys  rich,  its 
little  settlements  along  the  beach,  and  I  often  wonder  about 
the  mysteries  of  Mindoro.  Some  day  somebody  will  know. 
But  today  it  is  almost  as  little  known  as  it  was  when  the 
Americans  first  came  here. 

The  island  of  Panay  is  well  populated,  and  one  of  the  best 
of  the  Visayan  group.  This  island  is  divided  into  three  pros- 
perous provinces,  Iloilo,  Antique,  and  Capiz,  although  it  is 
no  larger  than  Mindoro.  Iloilo  is  probably  the  most  pros- 
perous of  the  three  provinces,  and  the  city  of  Iloilo  is  one  of 
the  best  towns  on  the  Islands,  Manila  excepted.  Iloilo  is 
the  big  sugar  shipping  center  for  the  islands  of  Panay  and 
Negros.  It  has  a  good  harbor  and  shipping  facilities,  and  is 
a  modern  Oriental  town.  Good  roads  lead  to  Iloilo  from 
many  other  localities  on  the  island,  and  an  American-owned 
railroad  is  operated  from  Iloilo  on  the  south  clear  across  the 
island  to  the  city  of  Capiz  on  the  north. 

This  railroad  has  done  much  to  aid  in  developing  the  in- 
terior of  the  island,  but  there  is  still  much  to  be  done  in  that 
line,  and  the  country,  even  along  the  railroad,  is  only  in  the 
first  stages  of  development.  I  have  traveled  across  the 
island  three  or  four  times  on  this  railroad.  It  is  the  nearest 
to  transportation  the  way  we  understand  the  term  at  home 
that  I  have  seen.  American  engines  and  coaches,  substantial 
depots,  and  a  reasonably  fast  train  schedule  for  this  country. 
The  railroad  seems  to  have  proven  a  detriment  rather  than 


THE  VI  SAY  AS.  165 


an  aid  to  the  town  of  Capiz,  as  the  place  has  a  poor  harbor, 
so  most  of  the  shipping  now  goes  to  Iloilo  and  from  there  to 
Capiz  by  rail. 

The  province  of  Antique,  on  the  west  coast,  is  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  island  by  a  high  range  of  mountains,  and 
is  rather  isolated  and  inaccessible.  San  Jose  de  Buenavista 
is  the  capital  of  Antique,  a  place  of  but  little  commercial 
importance,  as  it  has  no  harbor.  The  harbor  at  Iloilo  gives 
that  city  a  dominating  position.  Iloilo  is  the  home  of  many 
of  the  rich  sugar  planters  of  the  south,  and  has  many  fine 
homes  and  big  business  concerns.  Its  one  drawback  is  the 
lack  of  good  water.  The  town  is  situated  on  low  ground,  and 
there  are  many  places  where  water  stagnates  and  mosquitoes 
breed.  Still,  I  like  Iloilo  and  its  hospitable  people,  and  I 
have  many  pleasant  memories  of  my  visits  there. 

Next  in  line  below  Panay  is  the  island  of  Negros,  divided 
into  two  provinces.  East  and  West  Negros,  or  Oriental  and 
Occidental  Negros,  the  general  terms  in  use  here.  Bacolod, 
across  Guimaras  Strait  from  Iloilo,  is  the  capital  of  Occi- 
dental Negros,  and  Dumaguete,  at  the  extreme  southeastern 
end  of  the  island,  is  the  capital  of  Oriental  Negros.  This 
island  of  Negros  is  probably  one  of  the  best  agricultural 
prospects  in  the  archipelago.  I  have  traveled  over  the  coun- 
try around  Silay  and  Bacolod  in  an  auto,  over  good  roads. 
Sugar  is  the  main  crop.  The  fields  are  large,  level,  and  well 
tilled,  and  much  modern  machinery  is  used  in  cultivation  of 
the  crop. 

In  the  manufacture  of  sugar  the  methods  are  still  far  from 
modern,  but  several  large  sugar  mills  will  probably  be  erected 
in  the  near  future.  The  only  other  place  I  have  visited  on 
Negros  island  is  Dumaguete,  on  the  south.  This  is  a  cocoa- 
nut  country,  although  there  are  other  agricultural  indus- 
tries.    I  like  the  town  of  Dumaguete.    It  is  a  pretty  place 


166  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

and  is  rather  an  educational  center.  Besides  public  schools 
and  high  schools,  it  has  the  large  Silliman  Institute,  a  col- 
lege maintained  by  an  American  religious  denomination. 
Students  from  all  over  the  Visayas  are  enrolled  at  this  in- 
stitution, where  not  only  the  branches  of  learning  are  taught, 
but  also  manual  training  and  industrial  work.  This  school 
is  deservedly  popular. 

On  the  west  coast  of  Negros  at  La  Carlota,  the  Bureau  of 
Agriculture  maintains  a  big  demonstration  farm.  Altogether 
Negros  is  a  very  prosperous  country  and  contains  some  of 
the  finest,  best  cultivated  land  I  have  seen.  The  weather 
there,  especially  in  Occidental  Negros,  seems  much  cooler 
than  around  Manila,  an  item  of  some  importance  to  me.  It 
may  not  be  any  cooler  there,  but  it  seems  so.  All  the  in- 
habitants of  the  Visayan  group  speak  practically  the  same 
dialect.  It  varies  of  course  in  different  islands,  but  they 
have  so  many  words  in  common  that  it  is  practically  one 
language,  something  that  cannot  be  said  of  the  dialects  on 
the  island  of  Luzon. 

The  island  of  Cebu  is  just  east  of  Negros,  separated  only 
by  a  narrow  strip  of  water,  known  as  Tanon  Strait.  This 
island  is  probably  the  most  densely  populated  of  any  in  the 
group,  and  the  soil  is  mountainous  and  very  poor,  yet  it 
supports  a  large  population.  The  island  is  long  and  narrow. 
It  was  here  Magellan  landed  and  established  the  first  Span- 
ish settlement,  and  it  was  at  Cebu  that  this  famous  navi- 
gator was  killed.  There  was  much  timber  on  Cebu  at  one 
time,  but  the  hills  are  now  bare;  the  soil  washes  heavily, 
but  crops  of  corn  and  vegetable  are  raised  on  some  of  the 
st  jepest  hillsides. 

The  city  of  Cebu  is  the  capital  and  principal  town  of  the 
island,  located  about  midway  on  the  east  coast.  It  has  a 
good  harbor,  and  is  probably  the  second  city  in  importance 


THE  VI  SAY  AS.  167 


in  the  Philippines,  standing  next  to  Manila,  although  Iloilo 
would  doubtless  contest  this  claim.  The  two  towns  are 
friendly  rivals,  and  are  both  good  towns.  Cebu  has  a  better 
location  and  better  buildings,  the  streets  are  more  regular 
and  in  better  condition,  but  for  enterprise,  hospitality,  and 
volume  of  business  and  shipping,  Iloilo  and  Cebu  are  pretty 
well  matched,  and  it  is  a  toss  up  as  to  which  is  really  the 
better  town. 

There  is  a  railroad  on  Cebu  island,  extending  for  quite  a 
distance  up  and  down  the  east  coast  from  the  city  of  Cebu. 
There  are  several  prosperous  towns  along  this  line.  Good 
roads  are  common  there,  the  same  as  in  other  provinces, 
roads  along  which  automobiles  go,  rain  or  shine.  Corn  pro- 
duction has  probably  reached  its  highest  standard  in  this 
province,  and  is  used  more  commonly  for  human  consump- 
tion than  in  any  other  part  of  the  Islands.  The  city  of 
Cebu,  while  possibly  not  as  great  a  sugar  market  as  Iloilo, 
has  a  big  export  trade  in  abaca,  the  famous  fiber  known  to 
the  trade  as  Manila  hemp.  Copra  and  tobacco  are  other 
export  items. 

There  are  other  islands  in  the  Visayan  group.  They  are 
Bohol,  Leyte,  and  Samar,  to  the  east  and  northeast  of  Cebu. 
Bohol  is  a  round  little  island  of  some  agricultural  impor- 
tance, but  the  interior  of  the  island  is  practically  in  cogon 
grass  and  undeveloped.  Leyte  is  a  prosperous  island,  pro- 
ducing large  quantities  of  abaca,  corn  and  rice.  Samar  is 
the  island  at  the  extreme  east  on  the  Pacific  side  of  the 
group.  It  exports  abaca  in  large  quantities,  but  has  no 
large  city,  and  is  as  yet  lacking  in  development,  and  is  of 
little  commercial  importance  compared  with  Panay  or  Cebu. 

This  practically  completes  the  Visayan  group  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  island  of  Palawan,  on  the  extreme  west.  It 
is  doubtful  if  Palawan  could  properly  be  classed  as  Visayan, 


168  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

yet  the  dialect  spoken  there  is  of  that  tongue,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  southern  part,  which  is  more  or  less  Moro. 
Palawan  is  an  isolated  country.  It  has  one  little  town, 
Puerto  Princesa,  which  has  a  beautiful  harbor.  The  island 
is  long  and  narrow,  mountainous,  and  heavily  timbered.  The 
island  is  extended  in  a  thin  line  for  a  long  distance,  between 
the  Sulu  Sea  and  the  China  Sea.  A  steamer  goes  to  Puerto 
Princesa  about  once  every  twenty-four  days.  Water  is  prac- 
tically the  only  means  of  transportation  for  the  island.  The 
settlements  are  scattered  along  the  coast,  and  are  few  and 
far  between. 

The  fact  of  the  matter  is  that  Palawan  is  still  rather 
''  woolly."  I  wouldn't  want  to  live  there.  Their  only  means 
of  communication  with  the  outside  world  is  a  little  wireless 
equipment  with  which  they  reach  the  island  of  Cuyo,  where 
they  can  connect  with  the  government  cable  station.  When 
I  was  at  Puerto  Princesa  in  1914,  a  Kansas  man,  Gov.  Ded- 
rick,  was  Governor  of  the  province.  The  Governor  and  his 
wife  were  McPherson  County,  Kansas,  folks,  and  I  was  sur- 
prised indeed  to  find  Kansans  in  that  out-of-the-way  place, 
and  had  a  very  pleasant  visit  with  them.  He  has  since  re- 
signed, returned  home,  bought  a  ranch  near  Colorado  Springs, 
but  is  now  back  in  the  Islands,  having  accepted  a  five-year 
contract  as  manager  of  a  cocoanut  plantation  near  Duma- 
guete.  It  is  queer  how  the  spell  of  the  Tropics  draws  people 
back.  I  am  wondering  if  it  will  affect  me  that  way  when  I 
return  home. 

Well,  this  is  about  all  of  the  description  of  the  Visayas  I 
have  for  this  time,  except  a  word  of  commendation  for  the 
people.  The  Visayans  are  smart,  athletic,  hospitable,  and 
are  making  themselves  felt  in  all  Philippine  affairs,  political, 
social  and  industrial.  They  stand  together  well,  and  work 
for  their  common  interests.     If  there  is  a  more  wide-awake 


PLAZA  AT  CAPIZ,  ISLAND  OF  PANAY 

ONE  OF  THE  MANY  BEAUTIFUL  SCENES  IN  THE  PROVINCES 


MORO  BOYS  DIVING  FOR  COINS,  JOLO  HARBOR 

THE  MOROS  ARE  EXPERT  DIVERS  AND  SPLENDID  SWIMMERS 


THE  VI SAY  AS.  169 


class  of  people  in  the  Philippines  than  the  sugar  planters  of 
Panay  and  Negros,  I  haven't  seen  them  in  my  travels.  They 
are  rich,  educated,  know  what  they  want,  and  have  a  way  of 
going  after  it  with  a  combined  force  that  seldom  fails  to  get 
results. 

To  conclude  this  general  description  of  the  Islands  will 
require  at  least  another  letter,  in  which  I  will  try  to  tell  you 
something  of  the  islands  of  Mindanao  and  the  Sulu  group, 
the  land  of  the  savage  Moros,  and  the  progress  that  has 
been  made  there  of  recent  years.  It  is  an  interesting  coun- 
try, a  land  of  adventure  and  great  opportunities. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

MINDANAO  AND  SULU. 

Manila,  October  23,  1916. 

This  letter  deals  with  the  last  group  division  of  the  Phil- 
ippines, which  Moroland  on  the  extreme  south,  composed  of 
the  great  island  of  Mindanao,  and  the  small  group  of  Sulu 
Islands,  including  the  island  of  Jolo,  where  the  Sultan  of 
Sulu  resides. 

The  island  of  Mindanao  is  almost  as  large  as  the  pros- 
perous island  of  Luzon,  but  is  practically  unpeopled,  great 
portions  of  it  even  at  the  present  time  being  unexplored  and 
unsurveyed.  There  are  settlements  in  many  places.  At 
Surigao  considerable  agriculture  has  been  developed.  At 
Momungan,  district  of  Lanao,  the  government  has  estab- 
lished a  cooperative  colony  under  the  direction  of  the  Bu- 
reau of  Agriculture.  The  colonists  there  are  Americans  who 
have  married  Filipino  women.  I  am  not  much  in  favor  of  a 
mingling  of  colors,  but  I  have  much  more  respect  for  these 
men  who  have  married  Filipinos  and  settled  down  to  make 
the  best  of  it,  than  I  have  for  the  American  who  toys  with 
the  brown  sister  for  a  time  and  then  quietly  ''beats  it"  for 
the  homeland,  leaving  the  woman  to  care  for  her  half-caste, 
fatherless  offspring,  and  there  has  been  more  or  less  of  that 
sort  of  thing  in  times  past,  as  the  large  number  of  ''orphans" 
maintained  by  the  American  Mestizo  Association  here  in  Ma- 
nila mutely  attests. 

The  capital  of  this  big  southern  country  is  located  at 
Zamboanga.  There  is  quite  a  large  American  settlement  at 
Davao,  on  Davao  Gulf,  in  the  southeastern  part  of  the 

(170) 


MINDANAO  AND  SULU.  171 

island.  Some  rather  extensive  cattle  ranches  have  been  es- 
tablished, but  the  great  bulk  of  the  interior  is  yet  in  a  rather 
primitive  state,  and  occupied  by  roving  bands  of  savage 
Moros. 

Bear  in  mind  that  what  I  have  to  say  about  Moroland  is 
largely  from  hearsay,  as  I  have  not  traveled  this  country  as 
I  have  other  sections  of  the  archipelago.  But  some  big  sto- 
ries come  up  from  that  country  from  time  to  time.  There 
has  been  fighting  down  there  in  that  country  ever  since 
American  occupation,  and  it  is  going  on  yet,  although  not  on 
such  a  large  scale  as  at  first.  The  Moro  is  a  scrapper.  He 
is  not  only  a  fighter,  but  is  also  a  religious  fanatic,  and  that 
makes  a  pretty  stiff  combination.  If  a  person  becomes  pos- 
sessed of  the  idea  that  by  killing  a  few  Christians  he  is 
assured  of  a  glorious  hereafter  in  the  ''happy  hunting 
grounds,"  or  whatever  he  may  designate  his  particular  idea 
of  heaven,  he  is  liable  to  be  a  dangerous  citizen  and  very 
careless  of  even  his  own  life,  because  if  he  gets  killed  he 
reasons  that  he  enters  into  the  joys  of  heaven  all  the  quicker, 
provided  he  takes  a  few  Christian  lives  along  with  him  as 
an  evidence  of  his  good  faith.  It's  bad  business.  But  even 
the  Moros  are  quieting  down,  clamoring  for  schools  and  pub- 
lic improvements,  and  about  all  the  fighting  now  is  confined 
to  roving  bands  of  outlaws  who  prey  upon  the  peaceful 
Moros,  as  well  as  resist  all  constituted  authority.  It  is  such 
a  big  country  and  so  httle  explored,  that  hunting  outlaws 
in  the  interior  is  a  full  sized  man's  job,  and  furnishes  plenty 
of  excitement  even  now  for  the  young  men  in  search  of 
adventure.  There  are  no  United  States  troops  in  Mindanao, 
now.  The  military  work  is  all  done  by  the  Philippine  Con- 
stabulary, an  organization  composed  of  Filipinos,  officered 
by  Americans.  The  U.  S.  troops  were  withdrawn  from  the 
island  some  time  ago.    In  former  times  the  Moros  were 


172  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

such  fighters  that  they  kept  the  FiHpinos  up  north  pretty 
well  terrorized.  They  formed  war  parties  and  made  raids 
on  the  northern  islands,  and  many  of  the  old  forts  and 
watch  towers  to  guard  against  Moro  raiders  are  still  in  evi- 
dence on  the  islands  of  Bohol,  Leyte,  Cebu,  and  other  sec- 
tions of  the  Visayas.  The  Moros  do  not  take  kindly  to 
being  governed  by  FiUpinos  even  now,  but  are  gradually 
settling  down,  realizing  that  they  are  getting  a  square  deal 
through  the  U.  S.  government.  In  the  new  PhiUppine  Sen- 
ate, just  organized,  there  is  a  full-blooded  Moro  Senator, 
appointed  by  the  Governor-General,  who  has  taken  his  place 
along  with  the  elective  Senators,  and  is  ably  representing  his 
people.  But  in  spite  of  constabulary,  schools,  settlements, 
telephones  and  highways,  Moroland  is  still  rather  ''woolly" 
and  will  probably  be  that  way  for  some  time  to  come. 

Another  interesting  part  of  Moroland  is  the  Sulu  archi- 
pelago, a  group  of  small  islands  to  the  southwest  of  Mindanao, 
with  Jolo  as  the  capital.  Here  the  Sultan  of  Sulu  still 
reigns,  at  least  nominally,  regardless  of  American  sovereignty. 
It  is  rumored  that  the  Sultan  receives  annuity  from  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  and  also  from  England,  in  re- 
turn for  holding  the  Sulu  Moros  into  some  semblance  of 
peace.  The  Sulu  Moros  are  a  turbulent  bunch,  and  lawless 
as  they  make  them.  It  is  said  that  it  is  not  safe  for  anyone 
to  venture  far  outside  the  walls  of  the  city  of  Jolo,  especially 
after  night. 

These  Sulu  islands  extend  from  Mindanao  clear  down  to 
the  island  of  Borneo,  and  are  close  to  the  equator.  Some 
of  the  finest  pearls  in  the  world  have  been  found  near  Jolo, 
and  Jolo  pearls  are  highly  prized  and  are  worn  by  those  who 
can  afford  the  luxury. 

The  Sultan  of  Sulu  comes  up  to  Manila  once  or  twice  a 
year.     He  is  usually  accompanied  by  a  number  of  attendants. 


MINDANAO  AND  SULU.  173 

I  have  no  means  of  knowing  how  many  of  the  attendants  are 
members  of  his  harem.  He  is  a  Httle,  short,  dark  fellow, 
but  evidently  has  a  ''pull,"  and  travels  in  great  style,  and 
burns  up  a  great  deal  of  gasoline  every  time  he  comes  to 
town.  He  has  a  fine  little  kingdom,  and  if  reports  are  true, 
a  neat  httle  ''rake  off,"  and  apparently  enjoys  life  quite  well. 
This  practically  completes  a  general  description  of  the 
Philippines  as  I  have  seen  them.  Luzon,  biggest  and  best, 
on  the  north ;  the  big  central  Visayan  group,  and  the  Moros 
of  the  department  of  Mindanao  and  Sulu,  on  the  extreme 
south.  Throughout  the  entire  archipelago  there  are  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  idle  lands.  In  Mindanao  there  are  miles 
upon  miles  of  unbroken  grass  lands  where  you  can  ride  horse- 
back all  day  .with  grass  up  to  the  saddle.  There  are  thou- 
sands upon  thousands  of  acres  of  splendid  timber  as  yet  un- 
touched. There  are  gold  mines  in  Baguio,  Masbate,  Mindoro 
and  Mindanao.  There  are  wonderful  opportunities  for  de- 
velopment, especially  in  agriculture,  only  lacking  energy 
and  capital.  If  these  Islands  were  farmed  as  intensively  as 
in  Japan,  they  would  support  sixty  million  people,  a  popula- 
tion more  than  half  the  present  number  of  people  in  the 
United  States,  instead  of  the  ten  million  people  now  living 
here.  Naturally  you  may  ask  why  the  lack  of  development? 
There  are  many  reasons.  This  is  a  tropical  country.  It 
isn't  exactly  a  white  man's  country.  It's  a  warm,  sleepy, 
lazy,  indolent  country.  It  needs  three  or  four  months  of 
good,  cool,  snappy  weather  every  year  to  put  some  "ginger" 
into  the  people.  This  it  will  never  have.  It  is  too  near  the 
equator.  During  the  300  years  of  Spanish  rule  but  little 
attention  was  paid  to  development.  Easy,  slipshod  methods 
prevailed  and  soon  became  the  custom  of  the  country.  Some 
American  capital  has  come  into  the  Islands,  but  the  possi- 
bility that  the  flag  will  be  withdrawn  has  made  American 


174  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

capital  timid,  and  with  some  cause.  The  immigration  laws 
of  the  United  States  keep  the  Chinese  out.  They  would 
make  things  hum  if  given  a  chance.  They  are  good  garden- 
ers and  very  industrious.  They  intermarry  with  Filipinos, 
and  the  Chinese-Filipino  cross  produces  a  good  race,  for  they 
are  both  Malay  stock.  Much  of  the  leading  capital  now  in 
the  island  is  Chinese.  Some  of  the  largest  and  richest  firms 
in  Manila  are  Chinese.  They  have  branches  in  the  provinces^ 
and  reach  out  to  the  stores  in  the  municipalities,  and  on 
out  to  the  peddler  who  goes  out  into  the  byways  and  meets 
the  farmer  coming  to  market  with  his  produce.  The  China- 
man is  a  born  trader.  There  is  much  to  be  said  on  both 
sides  of  the  question  of  admitting  the  Chinese  to  the  Philip- 
pines. 

This  much  is  sure.  The  population  of  the  world  is  in- 
creasing. The  increasing  millions  must  be  fed.  This  cry 
for  bread  cannot  be  denied  and  at  the  same  time  allow  mil- 
lions of  acres  of  rich  land  to  remain  idle  as  is  at  present  the 
case  in  the  Philippines.  These  lands  will  be  farmed  by 
somebody,  and  that  at  no  great  distant  day.  The  Filipino 
cannot  maintain  the  ''cross  dog  in  the  manger"  policy,  and 
not  eat  the  hay  nor  permit  the  horse  to  eat  it  either.  The 
Filipinos  must  either  develop  this  idle  land  themselves  or 
they  will  be  forced  to  let  somebody  else  do  it.  That  is  in- 
evitable. They  don't  fancy  having  the  Americans  ''exploit " 
their  country,  and  no  Americans  that  I  have  seen  are  keen 
to  do  so.  They  don't  want  the  Chinese.  They  are  afraid 
of  Japan.  What  will  the  outcome  be?  Who  can  tell?  Per- 
sonally I  hope  the  Filipinos  will  rise  to  the  occasion  and  de- 
velop their  country  themselves.  In  many  ways  they  are 
ambitious ;  it  is  their  country,  and  I  would  hate  to  see  them 
overrun  by  any  foreign  power.  But  only  two  plans  are 
open :    a  quick  development  by  opening  her  doors  to  all 


MINDANAO  AND  SVLU.  175 

comers,  or  a  necessarily  slow  process  of  exclusive  Philippine 
development,  which  I  am  afraid  will  prove  too  slow  to  meet 
the  world's  demands.  I  like  the  Philippines.  I  like  the 
pleasant,  courteous,  easy-going  people ;  but  I  am  afraid  that 
they  are  due  for  a  rather  rude  shock  that  will  jolt  them  out 
of  their  present  happy-go-lucky  life.  And  I  can  only  hope 
that  they  will  be  able  to  meet  whatever  comes  with  a  brave 
front  and  rise  to  a  place  as  leaders  of  progress  in  the  Orient. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

A  PUBLIC  WELFARE  ADDRESS. 

Manila,  October  25,  1916. 

The  Public  Welfare  Board  of  the  Philippine  Islands, 
through  its  Social  Center  Committee,  recently  inaugurated 
a  contest  in  which  cash  prizes  were  offered  for  the  best  lec- 
tures submitted  to  the  Board,  said  lectures  to  be  of  a  civico- 
educational  nature  for  use  in  public  schools  and  for  public 
welfare  meetings  throughout  the  provinces.  The  lectures 
were  to  be  written  upon  any  of  the  following  topics :  Agri- 
culture, hygiene,  citizenship,  and  manners  and  morals.  The 
committee  announced  that  the  contest  was  open  to  any  resi- 
dent of  the  Philippines ;  that  the  lectures  might  be  written 
in  either  English  or  Spanish;  with  the  further  statement 
that  the  lectures  should  be  written  in  a  style  sufficiently 
popular  to  be  appreciated  by  audiences  of  adults  in  country 
districts,  and  that  in  determining  the  winning  lectures  the 
judges  would  take  into  consideration  the  value  of  the  lecture 
from  a  practical  standpoint  and  as  a  means  of  arousing  and 
holding  the  interest  of  the  average  audience.  Lectures  sub- 
mitted were  numbered  and  the  names  of  the  writers  were 
not  known  until  after  the  selections  were  made. 

I  submitted  but  one  lecture  in  the  contest.  It  was  en- 
titled, "Agriculture  as  an  Honorable  Vocation."  This  lec- 
ture was  awarded  a  cash  prize  under  the  topic  of  "Agricul- 
ture." It  is  given  herewith,  not  because  it  happend  to  win 
a  prize,  but  because  it  fairly  expresses  my  views  regarding 
an  important  economic  condition  in  the  Philippines  today. 
The  lecture  follows : 

"Agriculture  is  the  world's  greatest  industry.    It  is  also 

(176) 


A  PUBLIC  WELFARE  ADDRESS.  177 

by  far  the  world's  most  important  industry.  More  than 
that,  it  is  the  world's  most  honorable  industry.  Upon  agri- 
culture depends  the  sustaining  of  all  human  life.  Further, 
it  is  practically  the  source  of  all  wealth.  The  true  measure 
of  a  successful  life  rests  in  the  service  rendered  to  mankind. 
Who,  therefore,  renders  greater  service  or  deserves  a  more 
commanding  position  in  the  affairs  of  men  than  the  agricul- 
turist, the  man  who  feeds  a  nation  and  produces  its  surplus 
wealth? 

''The  farmer  is  independent.  If  all  other  classes  of  busi- 
ness were  utterly  destroyed,  he  could  at  least  maintain  life 
for  himself  and  for  his  family,  because  he  could  still  produce 
his  own  food.  This  condition  does  not  exist  in  other  lines 
of  human  endeavor.  If,  for  instance,  the  farming  industry 
should  be  destroyed,  the  whole  world  would  soon  be  facing 
starvation.  Every  time  there  is  even  serious  injury  to  agri- 
culture, famine  is  sure  to  stalk  forth  ;  we  are  constantly  that 
nea^  to  starvation.  With  the  farmers  all  removed  from 
their  fields,  what  would  the  rest  of  the  people  do?  The 
answer  is  plain.  They  would  of  necessity  go  to  the  soil  and 
there  produce  their  own  food,  or  starve.  There  would  be  no 
other  alternative.  The  welfare  of  the  farmer  is  therefore  a 
matter  of  vital  importance  to  all  the  people,  because  the 
service  he  renders  is  indispensable. 

''Agriculture  is  not  only  an  important  vocation,  but  it  is 
a  healthful  one  as  well.  He  who  cultivates  the  soil  is  of 
necessity  in  contact  with  the  fresh  air  and  sunshine  of  the 
open  fields.  He  lives  close  to  nature.  Agriculture  is  a  vo- 
cation that  begets  strong,  clean,  honorable  men  and  women. 
The  best  athletes,  the  best  professional  men,  the  best  busi- 
ness men  of  the  cities  are  recruited  from  the  farm. 

"It  is  a  laudable  ambition  for  young  men  and  women  to 
desire  an  education  that  will  fit  them  for  a  life  of  pleasant, 
congenial,  profitable  employment.  But  one  of  the  mistakes 
often  made  by  those  who  are  going  to  school  is  to  think 
that  by  securing  a  liberal  education  they  may  escape  a  life 
of  hard  work.  This  view  is  utterly  false.  There  is  no  es- 
caping hard  work  if  success  is  to  be  attained  in  any  occupa- 
tion.    It  has  been  demonstrated  beyond  dispute  that  hard 


178  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

work  and  success  go  hand  in  hand.  Work  is  the  price  suc- 
cess demands  for  bestowing  her  favors.  Education  merely 
as  a  means  to  more  easily  avoid  labor,  is  a  failure.  So  far 
as  education  may  teach  one  to  labor  intelligently,  it  is  de- 
sirable. Intelligent  labor  is  needed  on  the  farms  in  the 
Philippines  today  as  never  before — educated  labor  that  will 
tend  to  lighten  farm  work  of  some  of  its  present  drudgery ; 
education  that  will  teach  farmers  better  methods  of  growing 
crops  by  means  of  modern,  labor-saving  machinery ;  better 
methods  of  preparing  their  products  for  market ;  better 
methods  of  marketing  their  products  when  thus  prepared; 
education  that  will  teach  the  farming  community  the  benefits 
of  cooperation,  of  working  as  a  unit  for  the  common  welfare — 
education  that  will  demonstrate  by  personal  example  that 
there  is  nothing  degrading  about  the  profession  of  farming, 
but  rather  that  it  is  the  highest  of  professions  in  which  the 
best  brains  of  these  Islands  may  find  abundant  scope  for 
their  talents.  It  should  be  remembered  that  while  most  of 
the  professions  are  crowded,  there  is  yet  abundant  room  for 
educated  men  and  women  in  the  field  of  agriculture;  also 
that  agriculture  is  becoming  one  of  the  most  highly  special- 
ized professions  of  today.  No  army  composed  entirely  of 
officers  could  ever  succeed.  Some  must  march  as  honored 
privates  in  the  ranks.  This  is  equally  true  in  economic  af- 
fairs. No  country  can  succeed  when  composed  entirely  of 
doctors,  lawyers,  merchants  and  tradesmen.  Some  must 
labor  in  the  honorable  profession  of  agriculture.  The  more 
recruits  the  profession  receives  from  the  ranks  of  the  edu- 
cated, the  more  pleasant,  the  more  honorable,  and  the  more 
profitable  the  profession  of  agriculture  will  become.  The 
day  is  sure  to  arrive  when  education  and  modern  methods 
will  place  agriculture  upon  the  high  plane  the  vocation  mer- 
its. Then  the  independent  life  of  the  farmer  will  become 
the  envy  of  the  less  fortunate,  who  are  engaged  in  other  oc- 
cupations. 

''And  by  the  term  agriculturist  is  not  necessarily  meant 
the  big  hacendero  with  his  thousands  of  hectares,  a  veritable 
kingdom  in  itself.  The  honor  of  farming,  the  dignity  of  im- 
portant service,  the  independence  of  a  tranquil,  healthful 


A  PUBLIC  WELFARE  ADDRESS.  179 

life  close  to  nature,  these  are  all  for  the  small  farmer  as  well. 
With  his  little  rice  paddy,  his  tobacco  field,  his  cocoanut 
trees,  his  field  of  abaca,  corn,  vegetables,  fruits,  or  whatever 
branch  of  the  great  industry  he  may  be  engaged  in,  he 
shares  responsibility  with  the  man  of  big  affairs.  Each  has 
his  mission  to  perform.  Each  is  working  according  to  his 
lights,  the  honor  and  usefulness  of  the  service  being  only  a 
matter  of  degree.  Doing  the  work  at  hand  and  doing  it  well 
is  what  counts.  Even  the  humblest  toiler  in  the  field  grow- 
ing his  share  of  the  crops  with  which  to  feed  a  nation,  is 
performing  a  greater  part  in  the  divine  plan  than  many  of 
those  who  may  sit  in  high  places,  yet  produce  nothing  which 
adds  to  the  nation's  wealth.  The  world  is  beginning  to 
realize  that  fact  more  and  more,  and  as  a  result  is  willing 
to  place  the  wreath  of  honor  and  victory  upon  the  brow  of 
the  honest  though  humble  toiler. 

There  is  little  place  today  for  the  drone,  whether  he  be 
clad  in  fine  clothes  or  in  rags.  The  white  collar,  the  white 
suit,  the  smooth  hands,  the  jewels  that  adorn  them,  are  no 
more  a  mark  of  respect  than  the  coarse  cloth  of  the  man  or 
woman  honestly  toiling  in  field,  in  factory,  in  market,  in  the 
store,  or  in  the  home.  There  is  nothing  degrading  about  hon- 
est labor.     It  is  rather  the  distinction  of  honorable  manhood. 

''The  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the  farmer,  laboring  on 
his  own  farm,  will  be  the  envied  of  all  others.  Why?  Be- 
cause the  population  of  the  world  is  rapidly  increasing,  yet 
there  is  no  more  land  today  than  there  was  when  the  world 
was  young.  This  means  but  one  thing.  The  great  problem 
of  the  future  will  be  the  food  problem.  In  most  parts  of 
the  world  even  the  waste  places  are  now  being  reclaimed  and 
brought  under  cultivation,  in  order  to  meet  the  ever  in- 
creasing demand  for  food.  The  time  will  come  when  the 
fertile  hectares  in  the  Philippines  now  idle  will  be  intensely 
cultivated,  and  that  day  is  not  far  distant.  This  condition 
cannot  be  avoided.  These  idle  hectares  must  soon  respond 
to  the  cry  of  the  ever  increasing  millions  for  bread.  Who 
will  cultivate  this  land  now  only  waiting  for  the  magic 
touch  of  the  plow?  Who  will  be  reaping  the  profits  of  such 
transaction  and  thus  be  in  a  condition  to  dictate  to  the  less 
fortunate  citizens  in  crowded  centers  of  population? 


180  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

"Upon  the  answer  to  this  question  rests  the  future  wel- 
fare and  happiness  of  the  Filipino  people.  For  the  world's 
increase  in  population  is  a  condition  and  not  a  theory.  It 
is  a  plain,  hard  proposition  that  must  be  faced.  The  world 
will  soon  present  a  demand  for  food  that  cannot  be  denied 
while  fertile  lands  remain  idle.  Opportunity  is  today  opening 
wide  the  door  of  hope  to  the  people  of  the  Philippines.  She 
stands  beckoning,  pleading  for  her  sons  and  daughters  to 
accept  the  bounty  of  the  soil  while  there  is  yet  time.  Will 
they  look  the  trend  of  events  squarely  in  the  face?  Will 
the  educated,  progressive  youth  of  the  land  arise  to  the  op- 
portunity to  become  useful,  independent  citizens  by  building 
up  a  solid  economic  independence  upon  their  own  soil?  No 
more  honorable  vocation  is  open  to  them,  for  agricultural 
development  means  economic  prosperity  to  the  nation,  and 
this  in  turn  insures  a  happy,  industrious,  contented  people. 

''There  should  be  no  backward  step,  no  halting,  no  hesi- 
tation. The  goal  of  an  honorable  ambition  is  within  their 
reach.  The  time  for  action  is  now.  The  advance  in  land 
values  alone  will  bring  wealth  to  those  who  secure  title  to 
land  today.  The  vocation  or  profession  of  agriculture  is 
honorable  and  profitable  under  present  conditions.  These 
features  are  sure  to  be  increased  until  the  day  will  come  when 
the  landowner,  no  matter  how  small  his  possession,  will  be 
a  veritable  ruler  of  his  domain,  the  possessor  of  a  miniature 
kingdom,  with  no  master  save  the  demands  of  honest  service. 

"It  is  an  age  of  golden  opportunity  for  Filipinos  who  fol- 
low the  right  road,  the  road  which  leads  straight  to  the  farm 
and  a  home  on  the  virgin  soil.  This  opportunity  will  be 
less  in  a  generation  from  now.  It  will  continue  to  grow  less 
and  less  as  time  goes  on  and  the  aristocracy  of  the  soil  as- 
sumes its  dominion.  The  unfortunate,  the  careless  and  the 
improvident,  who  have  permitted  their  opportunity  to  pass 
will  then  realize  all  that  they  have  lost. 

"Honor,  health,  wealth,  happiness,  independence  and 
contentment  await  the  industrious  on  Philippine  soil  today. 
What  more  could  a  gracious  Providence  extend?  What 
more  should  the  son  of  man  expect?" 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

LOG  OF  THE  S.  S.  ''WARKEN." 

Manila,  October  28,  1916. 

We  have  just  returned  from  a  vacation  trip  to  China.  On 
the  map  these  Islands  do  not  appear  to  be  very  far  from 
China,  in  fact  we  are  only  about  two  days'  journey  by  boat 
from  Hongkong.  But  the  part  of  China  we  visited  is  a  long 
way  from  here.  From  Manila  to  Pekin  is  about  as  far  as 
from  New  York  to  Panama,  or  from  Winnipeg,  Manitoba, 
to  the  City  of  Mexico.  We  made  the  round  trip  on  the 
U.  S.  Army  Transport  Warren.  This  letter  is  my  private 
"log"  of  the  trip.  It  is  merely  the  notes  jotted  down  each 
day  we  were  travehng.  It  may  not  prove  very  interesting, 
but  the  little  incidents  recorded  will  give  you  some  idea  of 
the  life  on  board  a  ship.  In  letters  to  follow  I  will  try  to 
describe  some  of  the  things  we  saw  in  China,  and  especially 
in  the  ancient  city  of  Pekin ;  but  this  letter  is  a  daily  record 
of  the  ocean  trip.  I  have  designated  it  ''The  Log  of  the 
S.  S.  Warren:' 

Monday,  October  2.  We're  off,  sailing  from  Pier  No.  1, 
Manila,  at  noon.  Bay  is  smooth  as  glass^  weather  quite 
warm.  In  two  hours  we  are  passing  Corregidor.  Warren 
is  a  fast  boat.  We  have  stateroom  No.  10,  close  to  dining- 
room.  Have  steamer  trunk,  suitcases  and  hand  bag  in  room 
and  are  quite  cozy.  In  sight  of  Luzon  coast  all  afternoon. 
At  5  p.  M.  sea  still  smooth  and  nobody  sick. 

October  3.  Hot  night  last  night.  This  morning  there  are 
whitecaps  everywhere  and  boat  is  rocking  considerably. 
Island  of  Luzon  is  fast  fading  from  sight.     At  10  a.  m.  Capt. 

(181) 


182  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

Murphy  was  trying  to  locate  lighthouse  on  extreme  northern 
end  of  the  island.  Continued  rough  sea  all  afternoon.  No 
land  in  sight  now,  and  nearly  all  passengers  sticking  close  to 
staterooms. 

October  4-  Sea  is  so  rough  this  morning  that  big  waves 
break  over  front  of  the  boat,  sending  the  spray  flying  every- 
where. Were  in  sight  of  the  island  of  Formosa  by  daylight. 
Always  rough  weather  along  Formosa.  Afternoon  same, 
only  more  of  it.  Weather  getting  cooler.  Passed  light  at 
north  end  of  Formosa  at  10  p.  m. 

October  5.  Cool  enough  for  a  wool  suit  once  more.  Feel 
more  like  an  American  citizen  now.  Quiet  sea  today  may 
have  something  to  do  with  it  also.  Three  days  today  noon 
since  we  sailed.  This  evening  we  are  in  the  latitude  of 
Shanghai  but  well  out  to  sea.  Passengers  spent  a  pleasant 
evening  on  deck.     Weather  pleasant  but  rather  windy. 

October  6.  Are  now  in  the  Yellow  Sea.  Day  is  clear, 
bright  sunshine.  Still  sailing  steadily  northward,  no  land 
in  sight.  Everybody  on  deck  and  feeling  fine.  Wireless  has 
picked  up  a  message  which  says  ''fair  weather,"  also  some 
unimportant  war  messages.  This  afternoon  still  no  land  in 
sight,  but  may  see  Port  Arthur  late  tonight. 

October  7.  Land  in  sight  off  to  our  right.  It  is  Korea. 
Several  small  fishing  boats  in  sight.  Birds  are  flying  around 
the  ship.  One  dove  lit  on  deck  for  a  short  rest.  Nice  and 
cool  this  morning.  Expect  to  reach  Chinwangtao,  the  end 
of  our  sea  journey,  today.  By  9  a.  m.  we  are  passing  Port 
Arthur.  The  monument  at  203  Meter  Hill  can  be  plainly 
seen.  There  is  a  big  lighthouse  surrounded  by  walls  of 
white  stone  near  Port  Arthur.  Arrived  at  Chinwangtao  at 
5  p.  M.,  and  leave  at  10  o'clock  this  evening  for  Pekin  over 
the  Pekin-Mukden  Railway. 


LOG  OF  THE  S,  S.  "WARREN."  183 


October  8.  En  route  to  Pekin  by  rail.  Reached  Tientsin 
by  daylight,  and  Pekin  by  10  o'clock  in  the  morning.  More 
about  this  journey  later. 

October  9.  All  day  at  Pekin.  Saw  enough  there  for  a 
separate  letter. 

October  10.  Returned  to  Chinwangtao  by  8  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  Warren  was  about  through  coaling.  On  board 
again  ;  seems  like  getting  back  home.  Eight  days  since  we 
left  Manila.  We  sail  at  noon.  Many  venders  of  produce 
are  alongside  the  boat  at  the  dock.  Bought  a  basket  of 
grapes,  fine  ones,  basket  big  as  two  ordinary  market  baskets  ;; 
price  for  basket  and  grapes  only  forty  cents.  Got  a  hatful 
of  roasted  peanuts  for  three  cents.  Venders  have  on  sale 
chestnuts,  eggs,  vegetables,  game,  apples,  grapes,  pears,  cher- 
ries, persimmons  as  large  as  oranges,  big  yellow  fellows,  that 
are  fine.  At  2  p.  m.  we  are  out  of  sight  of  land  again  on  the 
homeward  journey.  Just  saw  a  nice  bunch  of  wild  ducks. 
Recalled  memories  of  hunting  days  on  the  big  Arkansas 
River.  Boat  is  heavily  loaded  with  coal,  and  now  draws 
twenty-  five  feet  of  water.  After  sundown  this  evening  there 
was  a  strip  of  golden  moonlight  stretching  away  across  the 
waters  toward  Port  Arthur,  that  was  beautiful.  We  pass 
Port  Arthur  sometime  tonight. 

October  11.  Weather  is  cool,  snappy,  glorious.  Had  a 
fine  breakfast.  Chinese  grapes,  California  grape  fruit,  good 
crisp  bacon,  eggs,  toast,  coffee,  hot  cakes  and  maple  syrup. 
Saw  another  fine  bunch  of  ducks  go  skimming  along  close  to 
the  water — green-wing  teal.  Made  my  trigger-finger  itch. 
At  9  :  30  a  big  steamer  is  passing,  off  to  the  northwest.  This 
afternoon  saw  many  huge  jelly-fish,  some  of  them  as  big  as 
a  bushel  basket,  floating  along  a  foot  or  two  beneath  the  blue 
waves.  Wireless  has  posted  a  notice  that  the  monsoon  is 
freshening  along  the  China  coast,  that  a  typhoon  is  forming 


184  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

down  near  Formosa,  and  rough  weather  may  be  expected. 
That's  a  nice  prospect.  Our  ship  is  loaded  to  the  limit  with 
her  cp^rgo  of  coal.  I  don't  want  any  typhoon  in  mine.  Think 
of  the  chances  of  going  into  eternity  and  taking  a  ship  load 
of  coal  along  with  you ! 

October  12.  We  are  now  in  the  China  Sea  and  encounter- 
ing the  northeast  monsoon.  It's  rough  all  right.  Not  many 
out  to  breakfast  this  morning.  Boat  rolls  so  badly  that  an 
army  officer  who  was  sitting  on  deck  reading,  upset  in  his 
chair  and  was  dumped  clear  over  to  the  rail.  Said  after  he 
got  up  that  he  wouldn't  have  been  more  surprised  if  he  had 
gone  clear  over  into  the  sea.  I  would  have  upset,  too,  but 
the  wireless  operator  who  was  passing,  caught  the  back  of 
my  chair  in  time.  Wireless  says  we  may  run  into  the  ty- 
phoon about  midnight.  Everybody  a  little  nervous  about 
that  typhoon. 

October  13.  This  is  Friday,  the  thirteenth,  which  should 
be  unlucky  enough  for  anybody,  but  we  missed  the  typhoon 
last  night,  and  the  weather  is  fair.  Wireless  says  the  storm 
is  well  to  the  rear.  Still  this  is  an  unlucky  day  for  me.  I 
am  getting  sick.  Not  seasick,  but  some  sort  of  fever,  prob- 
ably caused  by  a  bad  cold,  sudden  changes  of  climate  and 
lack  of  exercise.  The  ship's  doctor  says  I  have  a  temperature 
of  101.  Have  no  appetite  and  a  bursting  headache.  Ate 
nothing  all  day. 

October  14-  Still  sick  and  taking  no  interest  in  anything. 
Temperature  100  today.  Too  sick  to  care  for  tobacco,  so 
there  is  no  question  about  it,  I'm  sick,  all  right. 

October  15.  Feeling  better,  but  lungs  are  very  sore ;  have 
a  hard  cough  and  still  ache  all  over.  Guess  it's  dengue 
fever.  We  are  plowing  along  near  the  coast  of  old  Luzon, 
nearly  home.     Been  on  deck  all  day.     This  afternoon  passed 


LOG  OF  THE  S.  S.  "WARREN."  185 

the  transport  Sherman  en  route  from  Manila  for  San  Fran- 
cisco. She  saluted  us  with  three  long  blasts  from  her 
whistle,  which  was  returned  by  the  Warren.  We  are  now  in 
sight  of  Corregidor.  Captain  has  sent  a  wireless  to  Manila 
that  we  will  arrive  there  by  5 :  30.  Were  in  the  bay  by 
4  :  30. and  anchored  outside  the  breakwater  at  5  :  45.  Cus- 
toms and  quarantine  launches  came  alongside  and  said  we 
would  have  to  wait  until  morning  for  inspection,  which 
means  another  night  on  board  while  in  plain  sight  of  the 
twinkling  lights  of  Manila.  Pretty  sore  crowd.  Dinner 
and  early  to  bed. 

October  16.  Inspection  over  quite  early  and  we  are  at  last 
in  the  harbor.  Off  on  a  launch  with  baggage  for  Pier  No. 
1.  Baggage  promptly  inspected,  duty  paid,  rigs  secured,  and 
away  we  go  for  our  home  at  the  hotel,  safe  and  sound,  after 
two  weeks  of  travel.  Will  tell  something  of  our  China  ex- 
periences later. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

A  GLIMPSE  OF  CHINA. 

Manila,  October  31,  1916. 

Chinwangtao  is  not  a  very  good  harbor,  but  is  quite  a 
coaling  station,  and  several  ships  were  there  taking  on  coal 
when  we  arrived.  The  weather  was  cool,  about  like  October 
weather  at  home.  Leaves  were  still  on  the  trees,  but  com- 
mencing to  turn  brown.  It  was  soon  dark  and  we  remained 
on  shipboard,  as  our  train  did  not  leave  for  Pekin  until  10 
o'clock  that  night.  We  were  advised  to  get  some  of  our  good 
U.  S.  A.  gold  exchanged  into  Chinese  currency,  and  right 
then  our  troubles  commenced.  Deliver  me  from  Chinese 
money.  As  the  old  fellow  said  after  being  shown  a  giraffe : 
''There  ain't  no  such  anamile."  At  the  prevailing  rate  of 
exchange  we  were  able  to  secure  $19.20  in  Chinese  currency 
for  $10.00  in  gold.  That  looked  all  right,  but  it  wasn't. 
Some  of  the  bills  we  got  in  exchange  were  good,  some  not  so 
good,  and  some  were  worse.  Some  silver  dollars  were  all 
right,  and  some  were  dumped  back  on  us  when  we  tried  to 
spend  them.  Most  of  our  bills  were  Chinese  "Bank  of 
Communication"  notes,  and  we  soon  learned  they  were  only 
good  in  buying  railroad  tickets,  as  the  bank  owned  the  road 
and  had  to  take  its  own  paper ;  but  they  kicked  on  doing 
that,  and  demanded  at  least  one-third  of  the  fare  in  good 
currency,  and  even  at  that  made  me  discount  their  bank 
notes  three  per  cent  before  accepting  them  in  exchange  for  a 
railroad  ticket. 

It  made  me  wrathy,  but  how  are  you  going  to  avoid  it, 
with  the  train  tooting  for  the  start?     I  soon  had  quite  a 

(186) 


A  GLIMPSE  OF  CHINA.  187 

collection  of  silver  dollars,  for  anything  is  better  than  Chi- 
nese paper  currency,  but  of  the  first  four  dollars  I  pulled  out 
of  my  pocket  to  examine,  no  two  were  alike.  After  my  first 
experience  they  didn't  snag  me  that  way  any  more.  My 
reserve  money  was  mostly  in  S5.00  American  gold  pieces.  I 
knew  what  the  rate  of  exchange  was,  so  I  had  them  exchanged 
one  at  a  time  as  occasion  demanded,  getting  the  change  in 
silver  which  I  looked  over  as  carefully  as  possible.  I  had 
U.  S.  gold,  also  Philippine  currency,  likewise  fifty-seven  vari- 
eties of  Chinese  currency  before  I  got  fairly  started.  It'g 
quite  a  lot  of  trouble  and  would  surprise  you  if  you  have 
never  had  the  experience  before. 

Well,  I  finally  got  the  tickets  to  Pekin,  also  the  sleeping 
car  reservation.  The  sleeping  car  tickets  called  for  "bed- 
ding and  place."  We  had  some  experience  in  finding  the 
''place,"  after  we  got  on.  Finally  I  found  a  compartment 
with  no  one  in  it,  and  concluded  that  must  be  the  place.  At 
least  I  was  satisfied  to  take  a  chance  on  it.  My  bluff  worked , 
and  then  began  the  search  for  the  lads  with  the  bedding. 
They  kept  lugging  bedding  past  the  compartment  we  had 
located  and  making  up  bunks  in  other  places  and  talked 
Chinese  to  me  when  I  gently  invited  them  to  come  in  and  fix 
us  up.  Finally  I  quit  talking,  got  outside  the  compartment, 
headed  off  the  next  Chino  with  a  bundle  of  bedding  and 
made  signs  so  forcibly  that  I  chased  him  into  our  room. 
IVe  heard  it  said :  ''When  you  can't  talk,  make  signs."  It 
works  all  right,  if  your  signs  are  forcible  enough. 

In  these  compartments  are  two  long  seats,  nearly  full 
width  of  the  car,  facing  each  other.  On  these  seats  the  boy 
first  spread  a  blanket,  then  a  sheet  and  pillow,  then  another 
sheet  and  a  blanket  on  top  and  the  bed  was  ready.  Those 
beds  might  do  for  the  fence-rail  variety  of  men,  but  I  am 
built  on  more  ample  proportions,  and  I  had  some  trouble  in 


188  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

keeping  the  covers  on.  The  road  was  rough  and  the  night 
was  cool.  I  had  the  covers  off  my  head  or  my  heels  half  the 
time,  and  whenever  I  dozed  off  to  sleep  away  they  went 
altogether — and  then  I  would  wake  up  again  promptly.  I 
was  glad  when  daylight  came  and  we  were  due  to  get  up  and 
look  at  the  country.  It  beat  trying  to  sleep  and  was  a  lot 
more  interesting. 

Shortly  after  dayhght  we  arrived  at  Tientsin,  which  is  a 
city  of  over  a  million  population,  but  did  not  remain  there 
long  enough  to  see  much  of  the  town.  From  Tientsin  to 
Pekin  we  had  a  daylight  run,  and  had  a  fine  view  of  the 
country,  which  was  a  great,  level  plain  all  the  way,  and  every 
foot  of  it  farmed  except  the  graveyards.  They  revere  their 
ancestors  and  make  a  little  round  mound  of  earth  over  the 
grave,  about  like  a  big  ant-hill.  They  have  been  planting 
Chinamen  this  way  for  about  4,000  years,  so  in  that  time  the 
country  has  been  pretty  well  dotted  with  graves.  They 
need  the  land  for  farming  purposes,  but  refuse  to  level  down 
the  graves  and  use  the  land. 

The  country  greatly  resembled  the  plains  of  Kansas,  only 
it  is  farmed  more  intensively.  It  is  in  about  the  same  lati- 
tude (40°  north)  which  runs  along  the  Kansas-Nebraska 
border.  Being  the  fall  of  the  year,  most  of  the  crops  were 
harvested,  but  there  was  a  lot  of  forage  cane  growing  in 
many  places.  The  houses  were  substantially  built  of  dhobie 
brick  or  solid  stone,  which  looked  decidedly  substantial  to 
us  after  a  residence  of  over  two  years  among  the  nipa  houses 
of  the  Philippines.  As  in  the  Philippines,  the  Chinese 
farmers  do  not  live  out  on  the  farms,  but  huddle  together 
in  little  towns,  and  go  out  to  the  fields  to  work.  As  a  result 
there  are  great  stretches  of  farm  land  without  a  house  in 
sight. 

The  roads  could  hardly  be  called  roads  at  all,  little  by- 


A  GLIMPSE  QF  CHINA.  189 

paths  winding  around  between  the  fields,  cut  into  deep  ruts 
by  cart  wheels.  Didn't  see  a  decent  road  between  Tientsin 
and  Pekin.  If  those  old-timers  had  spent  half  as  much  ef- 
fort in  building  roads  as  they  did  in  erecting  great  walls, 
the  country  would  have  been  a  lot  better  off.  They  have  a 
saying  in  China  that  every  bride  will  some  day  be  a  mother- 
in-law,  and  every  road  will  be  a  canal.  I  guess  the  road 
part  is  true,  from  what  I  saw.  When  a  road  becomes  worn 
down  too  deep  for  road  purposes  they  turn  the  water  in  and 
make  a  canal  out  of  it  and  start  a  road  some  place  else. 

They  are  a  frugal  people,  work  hard,  early  and  late,  save 
everything  possible,  and  then  barely  exist.  They  have  to 
work  and  save  because  there  are  so  many  mouths  to  be  fed,  for 
four  hundred  million  is  some  population.  I  was  told  that  on 
the  vast  plain  we  traversed  the  rainfall  is  only  about  sixteen 
inches  annually,  so  the  crops  have  to  be  grown  by  irrigation. 
All  the  water  for  this  purpose  is  drawn  from  wells  by  hand 
with  an  old-fashioned  windlass,  a  Chinaman  turning  a  crank 
at  each  end  of  the  windlass.  Think  of  farming  Kansas  that 
way,  you  farmers  who  kick  when  there  is  a  little  dry  spell! 
And  the  Chinese  grow  two  and  three  crops  a  year  on  land 
that  has  been  farmed  continuously  for  over  3,000  years. 
Think  of  that,  you  farmers  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  United 
States  who  talk  about  your  wornout  farms  after  100  to  200 
years.  Possibly  the  American  farmer  might  learn  a  few 
things  even  from  the- heathen  Chinee.  For  the  Chinaman 
takes  care  of  his  soil.  Every  farm  has  its  compost  pit,  and 
everything  that  will  decay  and  cannot  be  used  for  more  val- 
uable purpose  goes  into  this  pit  and  eventually  back  to  renew 
the  soil.  Nothing  goes  to  waste,  absolutely  nothing.  The 
Chinese  can't  afford  to  waste  anything.  They  have  all  they 
can  do  to  make  a  living  as  it  is. 

We  could  tell  that  we  were  approaching  Pekin  on  account 


100  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

of  the  increasing  number  of  truck  farms,  the  inevitable  fore- 
runner of  a  big  city.  Soon  the  big  walls  began  to  loom  up. 
Pekin  is  a  city  of  walls.  As  our  train  pulled  into  town  the 
first  thing  that  attracted  my  attention  beside  the  huge  walls 
and  great  crowds  of  people,  was  a  caravan  of  camels  wending 
its  way  down  one  of  the  main  streets.  The  camels  were  all 
heavily  loaded.  I  hadn't  expected  to  see  any  camels  on  this 
trip,  but  saw  many  caravans  before  I  left  Pekin. 

We  arrived  at  the  central  station  by  10  o'clock  in  the 
morning.  The  day  was  cloudy  and  there  were  occasional 
showers.  The  weather  seemed  decidedly  cool,  after  our 
residence  in  the  Philippines.  There  is  a  fine  hotel  within 
walking  distance  from  the  station,  and  we  soon  were  com- 
fortably located  there.  Rate  $3.50  per  person  per  day 
American  plan.  We  had  a  fine  room  with  private  bath.  It 
was  all  right,  except  that  the  steam  heat  was  not  on. 

After  lunch  our  party  went  out  for  a  ride  in  rickishas,  the 
little  two-wheeled  buggies  pulled  by  a  coolie.  These  natives 
are  big,  strong  fellows,  and  they  get  in  between  the  shafts, 
grab  hold  of  them  and  away  they  go,  fully  as  fast  as  the  av- 
erage horse  trots.  The  streets  were  muddy,  dirty,  and 
sloppy,  especially  in  the  old  Chinese  part  of  the  city,  but 
not  so  bad  as  I  had  anticipated.  We  visited  many  of  the 
stores  and  places  of  interest.  When  on  the  street  in  our 
rickishas  there  were  always  queer  sights  and  queer  sounds, 
and  confusion  generally.  There  is  not  a  street  car  in  Pekin. 
Think  of  caravans  of  camels,  thousands  of  rickishas,  an  occa- 
sional automobile,  horses,  carts,  mules,  cattle,  people  on 
foot  and  in  victorias,  funeral  processions,  wedding  parades, 
rickisha  men  shouting  to  each  other,  peddlers  proclaiming 
the  merits  of  their  products,  thousands  of  little  one-story 
stores  crowded  with  sleepy-eyed  customers.  It  was  a  regu- 
lar continuation  of  surprises,  and  many  of  the  scenes  I  shall 


A  GLIMPSE  OF  CHINA,  191 

never  forget.  It  was  all  absolutely  foreign  to  anj^hing  seen 
at  home. 

There  were  few  women  to  be  seen.  The  Chinese  women 
evidently  stay  pretty  close  to  home.  In  the  best  part  of  the 
city  the  streets  are  paved,  but  only  in  the  center  where  the 
rickishas  and  autos  go.  There  is  a  mud  space  at  either  side 
of  the  paving  for  the  carts  and  heavy  traffic,  and  it's  mud 
all  right — deep,  black  and  smelly.  There  are  no  big  depart- 
ment stores,  even  in  the  best  shopping  districts.  The  stores 
are  little,  one-story  affairs  only,  with  queerly  decorated 
fronts,  but  seemingly  millions  of  them  on  the  miles  and  miles 
of  busy  streets.  We  were  apparently  as  great  a  curiosity 
to  the  people  as  they  were  to  us,  for  they  usually  stopped 
and  stared  at  us  until  we  were  out  of  sight.  The  next  day 
our  party  went  sight-seeing  in  an  automobile,  and  went  all 
over  the  city,  visited  temples,  shrines,  palaces,  and  many 
other  places  of  interest.  In  the  afternoon  we  went  ''shop- 
ping," something  I  do  not  greatly  enjoy,  but  even  that  was 
a  new  experience  in  Chinaland.  It  goes  something  like  this  : 
You  ask  the  Chinaman  how  much  an  article  is  worth,  as  a 
starter.  He  usually  sets  the  price  at  about  twice  what  it  is 
worth.  You  decline  to  pay  it,  and  declare  that  you  don't 
want  it.  He  then  asks  how  much  you  will  give.  You  then 
offer  about  half  what  you  think  it  is  worth.  Stick  to  it  and 
you  will  finally  get  it  at  your  price,  and  the  chances  are  that 
you  will  be  ''stung"  even  at  that.  But  withal,  things  are 
very,  very  cheap  in  China.  Of  course,  not  quite  so  cheap  as 
they  seem  by  the  time  you  pay  customs  duty  on  them  when 
returning,  but  even  then,  cheaper  than  you  ever  heard  tell 
of  at  home. 

The  rickisha  men  took  us  to  one  store  that  I  well  remem- 
ber. They  went  off  one  of  the  main  streets,  then  up  a  side 
street,  then  into  a  little,  narrow,  muddy  alley,  until  I  began 


192  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

to  think  they  might  be  kidnapping  us.  Finally  they  stopped 
at  a  low,  dingy-looking  place,  which  we  entered.  The 
women  were  rather  timid  about  going  in.  Inside  we  were 
guided  from  one  room  to  another,  until  finally  in  one  room  a 
Chinaman  began  to  show  embroidered  silks,  stacks  of  them. 
There  were  fine  furs  on  the  walls,  all  cut  and  sewed,  ready  to 
be  made  into  full  length  coats.  Some  of  the  cheaper  ones 
were  priced  at  only  $11.00  a  garment.  Must  have  been  cat 
skins.  Some  whole  skins  were  hanging  on  the  wall.  They 
looked  fine,  were  small,  and  I  found  they  were  worth  about 
$100  each.  They  were  genuine  sable.  When  I  asked  about 
them,  a  Chino  went  to  a  chest  and  brought  out  a  fur  coat. 
It  looked  pretty  good,  and  I  asked  the  price.  It  was  only 
$2,000.00.  It  was  genuine  Russian  sable.  And  he  had 
chests  full  of  them,  and  chests  full  of  silks  and  other  costly 
ornaments. 

Think  of  the  wealth  stowed  away  in  those  chests  in  that 
dinky,  little,  out-of-the-way  place.  There  were  coats  and 
other  furs,  of  cat,  marmot,  tiger,  leopard,  fox,  sable,  and  I 
don't  know  how  many  other  kinds,  all  in  a  little,  out-of-the- 
way  place  that  you  couldn't  find  without  a  guide,  and  so 
dark  and  uninviting  that  one  was  almost  afraid  to  go  in. 
Who  could  sell  stuff  that  way  in  the  United  States?  That 
kind  of  a  dealer,  rich  as  he  is,  would  have  to  get  his  goods 
out  where  they  could  be  seen  or  starve  to  death  in  America ; 
but  that's  only  one  of  the  differences  between  the  two  coun- 
tries.    There  are  thousands  of  others. 

We  didn't  have  a  chance  to  see  the  great  Chinese  wall 
except  from  a  distance.  You  can  see  it  from  the  harbor  at 
Chinwangtao  as  it  comes  down  over  the  mountains  to  the  sea, 
but  the  great  wall  is  a  two  days'  journey  from  Pekin  and 
we  didn't  have  the  time.  However,  there  are  walls  enough 
in  Pekin  to  satisfy  anybody,  if  walls  are  all  you  want.    Every- 


A  GLIMPSE  OF  CHINA.  193 

thing  has  a  wall  around  it,  often  walls  outside  of  walls,  and 
then  more  walls.  I  live  in  the  walled  city  in  Manila,  but 
the  Intramuros  wouldn't  make  any  showing  at  all  alongside 
the  walls  of  Pekin. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

A  PEEK  AT  PEKIN. 

Manila,  November  1,  1917. 

You  all  know  that  Pekin  is  a  big  city.  When  I  went  to 
school  I  was  taught  that  it  was  the  largest  city  in  the  world. 
It  is  not  the  largest  city  in  the  world  today,  but  is  a  large 
city  just  the  same.  It  is  situated  on  a  level  plain  and  spreads 
all  over  the  country  for  miles  and  miles.  It  is  the  capital 
of  China,  and  has  something  over  a  million  population,  I 
doubt  if  anybody  knows  exactly  how  many  people  there  are. 
The  thing  that  impressed  me  most  w^hen  coming  into  the 
city  was  the  numerous  high  walls.  There  are  huge  walls 
everywhere,  and  the  only  high  buildings  outside  the  temples 
and  palaces  are  the  huge  buildings  of  stone  at  many  of  the 
gateways.  The  stores  are  mostly  one  story.  There  are 
miles  of  streets  with  the  little  shops  with  their  queer  little 
signs  and  decorations  in  front  or  on  top  of  the  buildings. 
Some  of  these  buildings  look  very  old,  and  are  no  doubt  as 
old  as  they  look. 

For  remember  that  the  streets  of  Pekin  swarmed  with  peo- 
ple fully  1,200  to  1,500  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ. 
When  it  comes  to  age,  Pekin  has  the  lead  over  any  place  I 
ever  visited.  Even  some  of  the  rulers  of  China  whose  time 
is  considered  quite  modern,  were  in  their  prime  some  500 
years  ago,  long  before  Columbus  discovered  America.  China 
was  struggling  along  with  a  sort  of  civilization  fully  3,000 
years  before  Kansas  was  admitted  to  statehood.  You  may 
not  realize  it,  but  America  is  only  in  her  swaddUng  clothes 
compared  with  China. 

Pekin  is  divided  into  four  great  districts.     The  Tartar  City 

(194) 


A  PEEK  AT  PEKIN.  195 

covers  an  area  of  ten  square  miles  and  is  completely  sur- 
rounded by  a  wall  forty  feet  high.  Looking  down  the  streets 
in  either  direction  you  can  see  the  gateway  through  the  big 
wall  at  the  end  of  the  street,  guarded  by  a  high,  massive 
temple.  The  Imperial  City  is  in  the  center  of  this  Tartar 
City  and  is  about  two  square  miles  in  extent,  and  is  sur- 
rounded by  a  wall  twenty  feet  high.  The  third,  or  Forbidden 
City,  is  in  the  center  of  the  Imperial  City.  It  covers  an  area 
of  about  one-half  square  mile  and  is  inclosed  with  a  thirty- 
foot  pink-colored  wall.  Within  this  Forbidden  City  are 
many  of  the  royal  palaces,  private  residences  of  the  nobility 
and  the  government  officials.  Foreigners  are  seldom  per- 
mitted to  enter  this  district,  so  all  we  did  was  look  at  the 
walls  and  want  to  go  inside,  possibly  just  because  it  was  for- 
bidden. The  fourth  district  is  the  Chinese  City,  which  is 
situated  south  of  the  Tartar  City.  Here  the  streets  are  nar- 
row, crooked,  sloppy,  smelly,  and  uninviting,  yet  interesting. 
They  are  also  surrounded  by  a  high  wall. 

With  this  general  description  of  the  city  you  can  realize 
that  we  had  to  move  lively  in  order  to  obtain  even  a  glimpse 
of  things  in  the  two  days  we  were  there.  We  hired  ricki- 
shas,  autos,  and  went  on  foot  when  necessary,  and  moved 
lively,  for  the  weather  was  cool  and  bracing,  just  like  Octo- 
ber days  in  Kansas.  The  rickisha  men  are  big  stout  coolies, 
who  pull  you  along  in  the  little  two-wheeled  buggies  as  fast 
as  a  horse  trots.  They  charge  ten  cents  per  hour,  and  are 
anxious  for  passengers  at  that  price.  The  Chinese  who  ride 
pay  the  coolies  only  a  few  coppers.  The  only  silver  they 
get  seems  to  be  from  foreigners.  We  hired  a  four-passenger' 
automobile  for  $7.50  for  half  a  day,  which  seemed  quite 
reasonable.  We  also  had  a  guide  with  us  on  the  auto  trip 
and  paid  him  $1.00  for  his  half  day  service,  which  I  expect 
was  big  wages  to  him. 


196  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

What  did  we  see?  Well  it  was  a  great  sight  to  me,  just 
to  ride  through  those  busy  streets  and  watch  the  people, 
the  stores  and  the  traffic  generally.  On  the  auto  trip  we 
went  first  to  the  big  temple  of  Confucius,  a  wonderful  place. 

It  is  a  great  place  of  worship,  but  doesn't  look  like  it  was 
used  very  much  now.  Here  we  were  shown  tablets  on  which 
were  Chinese  characters  said  to  be  the  work  of  Confucius 
himself.  In  this  temple  the  Emperor  formerly  conducted  re- 
ligious services  at  least  once  each  year.  It  is  a  massive 
temple,  beautifully  decorated.  We  next  went  to  the  Temple 
of  Classics,  where  there  were  great  tablets  of  stone,  contain- 
ing the  Confucius  creed  and  other  records  of  ancient  Chinese 
civilization.  In  the  grounds  at  this  place  were  figures  of 
monstrous  animals  carved  from  stone,  the  Chinese  conception 
of  a  lion,  the  guide  said,  but  they  looked  to  me  more  like 
great  big  chow  dogs.  There  were  great  marble  slabs  extend- 
ing the  full  length  of  some  of  the  terraces,  on  which  were 
carved  dragons  and  other  emblems  of  Chinese  mythology. 
Next  we  went  to  the  temple  of  the  great  Buddha.  The  Chi- 
nese, I  was  told,  have  but  the  one  Buddha.  In  Japan  there 
are  many.  I  don't  know  much  about  their  religious  creeds, 
but  of  course  the  Buddha  and  Confucius  creeds  are  entirely 
different,  and  each  creed  has  its  adherents  among  the  millions 
of  people  in  China.  There  are  great  gates,  arches,  walls,  and 
temples  within  temples  at  this  place.  There  are  cedar  trees 
growing  in  the  gardens  there  said  to  be  over  600  years  old. 

From  there  we  went  to  the  U.  S.  Legation,  where  we  ob- 
tained the  necessary  passes  to  enter  the  Temple  of  Heaven. 
The  detachment  of  U.  S.  troops  were  drilling  on  the  lawn 
when  we  were  there,  and  those  trim  young  men  with  their 
blue  uniforms  trimmed  in  white,  the  band  pounding  away, 
the  erect  officers  out  on  the  side  lines,  and  that  glorious  old 
red,  white  and  blue  flag  waving  in  the  October  breeze,  made 


A  PEEK  AT  PEKIN.  197 

me  thrill  again  and  proud  of  the  fact  that  I  am  an  American 
citizen.  The  more  an  American  sees  of  the  world  the  more 
he  appreciates  his  own  country. 

We  were  soon  off  in  the  auto  for  the  Temple  of  Heaven, 
away  in  the  outskirts  of  the  city.  This  is  probably  the  only 
place  in  the  world  where  you  can  go  straight  to  heaven  in  a 
motor  car.  Even  at  that  we  got  only  to  the  gates,  gave  up 
our  passes  to  a  sanctified  looking  Chino  with  chin  whiskers. 
We  called  him  St.  Peter.  We  then  passed  through  the  gates 
and  started  out  to  see  heaven  on  foot.  It  was  a  long,  tedious 
journey,  and  we  longed  for  wings  before  we  got  through 
with  it. 

The  Temple  of  Heaven  is  no  doubt  quite  a  sacred  place 
to  the  Chinese,  and  is  their  conception  of  as  near  the  real 
thing  as  we  can  attain  on  this  earth.  The  grounds  are  of 
great  extent,  many,  very  many  acres,  all  enclosed  by  an  im- 
mense wall  trimmed  in  blue  tile.  We  first  visited  the  Place 
of  Sacrifices,  an  immense  circular  affair  of  marble,  reached  by 
climbing  three  flights  of  stone  steps.  The  view  of  heaven 
from  this  place  is  fine.  It  was  here  that  in  former  times 
the  Emperor  offered  blood  sacrifices  to  Deity.  In  the  cen- 
ter of  this  great  elevated  stage  is  a  small  circle  of  stone 
which  the  guide  said  the  Chinese  considered  as  the  center 
of  the  world.  At  this  place  all  the  great  ceremonies  were 
held.  He  said  in  former  times  three  chairs  were  placed  there 
at  night,  one  for  the  Emperor,  the  other  for  somebody  else, 
I  don't  remember  who,  and  the  third  was  for  the  great  Deity  in 
case  he  chose  to  come  down.  On  this  particular  chair  was 
placed  a  cushion.  In  the  morning  the  Emperor  visited  the 
chairs,  and  if  there  was  a  dent  in  the  cushion  it  was  proof 
positive  that  God  had  been  there  and  sat  in  the  chair,  and 
he  so  informed  his  people,  and  there  was  great  rejoicing 
among  the  multitude.    No  dented  cushion,  no  visitation.    As 


198  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

the  Emperor  went  there  all  alone,  I  had  the  suspicion  that 
probably  he  dented  the  cushion  whenever  he  wanted  to.  Of 
course  it  may  have  been  all  real.  It  doesn't  pay  to  be  too 
much  of  a  doubting  Thomas,  especially  in  China,  where  they 
chop  off  heads  occasionally. 

There  were  many  other  departments  in  the  Chinese 
heaven,  some  of  which  we  visited  and  some  we  did  not,  for 
we  were  on  foot  and  the  sun  was  shining  very  bright  even 
for  October,  and  the  way  was  long.  After  tramping  what 
seemed  to  be  many  miles  and  wandering  through  temples 
and  cedar  groves  and  occasional  weed  patches,  we  finally  got 
back  to  the  pearly  gates  and  our  auto,  where  we  incidentally 
gave  a  tip  of  thirty  cents  (Mex.)  to  the  gate-keeper  to  let  us 
out  of  heaven. 

The  next  nearest  temple  was  the  Temple  of  Agriculture, 
so  we  visited  there  a  short  time.  The  grounds  are  beauti- 
fully kept  and  there  are  many  rare  plants.  The  temple  and 
grounds  are  of  course  surrounded  by  the  inevitable  high  wall. 
I  never  saw  so  many  huge  walls  in  all  my  life.  In  these 
grounds  the  Emperor  in  former  times  came  at  least  once  each 
year  and  plowed  and  planted  grain  with  his  own  hands,  as  an 
example  to  his  people.  But  China  is  a  sort  of  republic  now, 
and  the  Emperor  is  out  of  business.  Still  there's  no  telling 
when  the  republic  will  go  back  to  a  monarchy.  It's  rather 
wobbly  right  now.  When  we  were  there  they  were  making 
great  preparations  for  the  Chinese  "Fourth  of  July,"  the 
anniversary  of  the  birth  of  the  republic.  It  was  to  be  a  three 
days'  affair,  October  10,  11  and  12.  They  were  erecting 
great  arches  of  bamboo  and  colored  paper  over  many  of  the 
streets,  putting  up  little  peanut  and  candy  stands,  and  get- 
ting ready  for  three  full  days  of  hilarity. 

In  our  travels  over  the  city  our  guide  said  we  had  a  lucky 
day,  because  we  had  an  opportunity  of  seeing  so  many  fu- 


A  PEEK  AT  PEKIN.  199 

neral  and  wedding  processions.  I  can't  accurately  describe 
either  one  of  these  events.  A  Chinese  funeral  is  a  great 
event,  just  how  great  depending  upon  the  wealth  of  the  de- 
ceased. There  are  bands  playing  queer  instruments,  fifes, 
drums,  coolies  carrying  great  banners,  hired  mourners,  gaily 
costumed  coolies  carrying  the  monstrous  wooden  coffin,  and 
so  on,  depending  on  how  much  money  can  be  expended.  If 
the  deceased  is  very  poor,  only  the  huge  cofiin  is  carried  with- 
out other  demonstration.  There  was  too  much  of  it  for  me 
to  comprehend  fully,  and  I  have  forgotten  half  the  queer 
things  the  guide  told  me.  The  chief  mourner  carries  some- 
thing in  right  or  left  hand,  which  indicates  what  relative  is 
dead.  We  saw  one  funeral  procession  several  blocks  long 
that  day,  and  it  was  the  most  fantastic  and  wierd  funeral  I 
ever  saw.  The  marshal  goes  ahead,  pounding  on  a  hollow 
bamboo  tube.  There  is  some  sort  of  music  and  drum-beats 
all  down  the  line.  There  was  a  big  carved  affair  carried  on 
bamboo  framework  by  about  forty  uniformed  coolies.  The 
guide  said  this  was  for  the  ghosts  of  the  departed.  A  big 
wedding  parade  came  onto  the  street  at  the  same  time  this 
funeral  procession  was  passing  and  nearly  blocked  traffic 
while  it  turned  off  on  another  street. 

According  to  the  guide,  if  the  wife  dies  and  the  husband 
follows  her  remains  to  the  cemetery,  he  is  not  permitted  to 
marry  again.  If  he  remains  quietly  at  home,  he  is  then 
heart  free.  In  the  first  funeral  procession  we  saw,  I  asked 
the  guide  if  hubby  was  along,  and  he  said  he  was  not.  Evi- 
dently he  was  reserving  his  chances  for  the  future.  Which  re- 
minded me  of  the  story  in  the  home  papers  of  the  man  who 
lost  his  wife  and  was  bewailing  his  fate  until  the  preacher 
told  him  not  to  mourn,  as  there  was  one  who  would  always 
watch  over  him  and  comfort  him,  whereupon  the  man  dried 
his  eyes  and  said,  quite  happily,  *'Do  I  know  her,  parson?" 


200  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

And  the  wedding  parades  are  also  fine  business.  The 
groom  doesn't  figure  in  the  parade  at  all.  The  bride  has 
things  all  her  own  way,  sits  in  a  little  closed  canopy  affair 
carried  by  four  strong  coolies,  and  rides  to  the  house  of  the 
groom,  where  she  is  married  and  becomes  one  of  the  family. 
A  feature  of  the  parade,  aside  of  course  from  the  bride  and  the 
banners,  is  the  great  string  of  wedding  presents  that  are  car- 
ried along  on  display.  In  some  of  the  wealthy  wedding  pro- 
cessions we  passed  there  were  whole  blocks  of  coolies  carry- 
ing urns,  chinaware,  furniture,  mirrors,  etc.,  in  great  pro- 
fusion. In  this  big  parade  I  got  a  peep  at  the  bride  as  the 
front  curtain  was  blown  aside  by  the  wind.  She  was  a  little 
bit  of  a  Chinese  girl,  apparently  not  over  twelve  or  fourteen 
years  old,  but  her  crowd  was  surely  taking  the  street  for  about 
three  blocks. 

At  one  busy  corner  our  Chinese  driver  wanted  to  turn 
onto  another  street  and  so  signaled  the  policeman.  The 
crowd  didn't  get  out  of  the  way  and  the  car  had  to  stop. 
Then  our  driver  and  the  poHceman  had  a  great  pow-wow  and 
I  began  to  think  we  had  done  something  that  would  get  the 
whole  outfit  of  us  '' pinched."  But  after  much  talk  the  car 
went  on  its  way  undisturbed.  I  asked  the  guide  what  it  was 
all  about,  and  he  said  our  driver  was  telling  the  policeman 
what  his  duties  were,  and  reading  the  riot  act  to  him  for  not 
clearing  a  place  for  the  car  on  the  street  we  wanted  to  travel. 
Which  shows  another  of  the  different  ways  they  do  things  in 
China.  Imagine  an  automobile  driver  stopping  in  an  Ameri- 
can city  and  telling  the  policeman  where  to  ''head  in."  It's 
always  the  other  way  back  home. 

On  the  streets  many  of  the  carts  are  drawn  by  horses, 
cattle  and  mules,  all  hitched  together.  The  big  carts  usually 
have  one  work  animal  between  the  shafts  to  guide  the  cart, 
and  then  as  many  animals  on  ahead,  sometimes  two  or  three 


RICKISHA  DAYS  IN  PEKIN,  CHINA 

'tenderfoot"  and  wife  out  for  a  spin  in  the 
chinese  horseless  carriages 


TEMPLE  OF  HEAVEN,  PEKIN,  CHINA 

OUR  PARTY  ARRIVING  AT  THE  PLACE  OF  SACRIFICES 


A  PEEK  AT  PEKIN.  201 

abreast,  as  are  needed  to  pull  the  load,  all  hitched  to  the  cart 
by  long  ropes.  Water  is  peddled  over  town  in  creaky  push 
carts.  You  can  hear  one  of  them  coming  for  a  block.  There 
is  no  adequate  water  or  sewer  system  in  the  city.  In  hun- 
dreds of  places  we  saw  the  people  drawing  water  from  open 
wells  by  windlass.  Streets  are  sprinkled  by  hand.  Two 
laborers  carry  a  tub  about  as  big  as  half  an  ordinary  barrel, 
set  it  down  in  the  middle  of  the  street,  then  one  of  them  with 
a  big  dipper  on  the  end  of  a  pole,  dips  out  a  dipper  of  water 
and  gives  it  a  sling  along  the  street.  This  operation  is  con- 
tinued as  far  as  he  can  throw  water  from  his  long-handled 
dipper,  then  the  tub  is  moved  on  and  the  operation  is  re- 
peated. Human  labor  is  so  cheap  that  this  plan  is  no  doubt 
cheaper  than  a  modern  team  and  sprinkling  tank.  The 
coolies  bear  enormous  burdens.  Some  of  the  loads  they 
carry  are  surprising. 

At  one  place  we  passed  a  Chinese  general  riding  in  great 
state.  There  were  troopers  on  foot  and  on  horseback  in 
front  and  behind  his  carriage,  but  at  a  toot  of  our  automobile 
horn  the  whole  procession  swung  off  to  the  side  to  let  us  pass. 
The  auto  seems  to  have  the  right  of  way  in  Pekin. 

The  women  have  small  deformed  feet.  It  is  said  that  the 
custom  of  binding  the  feet  of  the  girls  to  make  the  feet  small 
has  been  discontinued,  but  I  doubt  it.  Many  young  women 
may  be  seen  hobbling  along,  barely  able  to  walk.  It  appears 
that  the  feet  are  really  not  so  small,  but  having  been  bound, 
toes  downward,  the  foot  gradually  assumes  that  position 
and  they  walk  on  their  toes,  and  the  heel  of  the  foot  is  above 
the  shoe  tops.  Certainly  it  is  a  foolish  custom.  Nearly 
all  the  men  wear  skirts  and  the  women  wear  trousers.  What 
an  ideal  place  for  suffragettes!  Some  of  the  women  wear 
a  queer  headdress.  It  could  hardly  be  called  a  hat.  It  looks 
like  a  shingle  cut  with  notches  and  covered  with  black  satin. 


202  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

It  is  worn  across  the  head  from  ear  to  ear.  I  don't  know 
how  they  keep  the  thing  on  and  make  it  sit  up  on  edge  the 
way  they  do,  but  they  manage  it  somehow,  and  it  looks  very 
odd. 

In  closing,  I  wish  I  could  give  you  some  impression  of  the 
street  scenes.  The  streets  are  full  of  rickishas  all  the  time, 
trot,  trot,  trot.  It  seems  Uke  half  the  people  are  riding  in 
these  rickishas  and  the  other  half  are  pulling  them.  Then 
there  is  the  strange  language  and  shouting,  and  occasional 
automobiles  and  heavily  burdened  camels  side  by  side. 
There  are  water  carts,  peddlers,  heavy  two-wheeled  carts 
drawn  by  many  animals,  soldiers  of  all  nations,  uniformed 
poHce;  dogs,  cats,  rich  men,  poor  men,  beggar  men  and 
thieves  (I  presume)  all  mixed  up,  here,  there  and  ever)rwhere 
for  miles  and  miles.  Such  is  the  fleeting  glimpse  of  Pekin 
as  we  saw  it,  a  city  of  over  a  miUion  without  a  street  car,  a 
strange  mixture  of  wealth  and  poverty,  of  hovels,  of  dark, 
ill-smelling  streets,  and  of  temples,  palaces  and  beautifully 
kept  grounds.  I  wish  I  could  tell  you  more  about  it,  but  I 
have  already  used  more  space  than  I  should.  Besides  it 
should  be  remembered  that  I  had  time  for  only  a  mere  peek 
at  Pekin. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

A   CRUISE   OF  THE   SOUTHERN   ISLANDS. 

Manila,  June  22,  1917. 

I  have  just  returned  from  one  of  the  most  pleasant  and 
interesting  trips  of  the  many  I  have  made  while  in  the  Philip- 
pines, a  three  weeks'  cruise  among  the  southern  islands  of 
the  archipelago.  The  trip  was  made  on  a  coast-guard  cutter, 
one  of  the  fleet  of  staunch,  seagoing  boats  owned  and  oper- 
ated by  the  Phihppine  government.  Our  boat  had  its  own 
refrigerating  system  and  electric  plant,  there  were  fans  in 
each  stateroom,  and  big  easy  chairs  on  deck  under  the  can- 
vas awnings.  The  boat  was  chartered  expressly  for  our  party, 
and  the  three  weeks'  trip  was  made  during  pleasant  weather, 
over  a  sea  that  was  deep  blue  and  as  level  as  a  mill  pond. 
We  sailed  from  port  to  port,  seldom  out  of  sight  of  land,  and 
the  green  islands  with  beaches  of  coral,  Hned  with  feathery, 
waving  palms,  the  wide  inlets,  the  mountains  that  often  had 
their  heads  in  cloud-mists,  made  the  trip  delightful  indeed. 

Our  party  was  composed  of  the  Secretary  of  Agriculture 
and  Natural  Resources,  Mr.  Apacible,  and  the  chiefs  of  the 
several  Bureaus  under  his  control,  namely:  Dr.  Cox,  di- 
rector of  the  Bureau  of  Science ;  Mr.  Fischer,  of  the  Bureau 
of  Forestry ;  Judge  Mina,  of  the  Bureau  of  Lands ;  Father 
Algue,  of  the  Weather  Bureau ;  and  Director  Hernandez  and 
myself,  of  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture.  There  were  also  a 
few  of  the  leading  capitalists  from  the  city  of  Manila.  There 
were  first-class  accommodations  for  our  party  of  twenty  on 
the  upper  deck.  We  left  on  May  31 ,  and  were  back  in  Manila 
the  morning  of  June  20,  after  having  sailed  clear  around  the 

(203) 


204  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS, 

big  southern  island  of  Mindanao,  where  stops  were  made  at 
six  of  the  sub-provinces,  including  Jolo,  in  the  Sulu  group 
away  down  within  five  degrees  of  the  Equator,  near  the  island 
of  Borneo. 

It  was  an  inspection  trip  for  the  government  officials,  and 
at  most  of  the  places  visited  automobiles  were  waiting  to 
carry  the  visitors  to  the  principal  points  of  interest.  Be- 
sides the  many  long  automobile  trips  to  big  sugar  mills,  hemp 
and  rubber  plantations,  agricultural,  forestry  and  weather 
stations,  we  also  made  several  interesting  trips  by  boats  up 
rivers  well  into  the  interior  of  some  of  the  islands  visited, 
and  occasionally  made  short  jaunts  on  horseback  and  in 
carretelas  (native  carts),  and  more  than  once  ''hiked"  out 
on  foot  through  mud  and  rain;  but  it  was  all  interesting, 
and  the  boat  was  always  waiting  for  us  on  our  return.  Tired, 
hungry,  often  muddy,  sometimes  dusty,  dirty  and  thirsty, 
that  old  boat  with  its  electric  lights,  cool  distilled  water, 
shower  bath,  good  meals,  and  big,  comfortable,  easy-chairs, 
was  a  refuge  fully  appreciated.  Usually  a  good  meal,  a 
smoke  in  the  silvery  moonlight  on  deck,  some  story-telling 
and  visiting,  followed  by  a  good  night's  rest,  put  everybody 
in  good  shape  and  full  of  interest  for  the  next  port,  which 
was  probably  just  coming  into  view  after  an  all  night's  run, 
and  we  were  all  ashore  as  soon  as  the  boat  was  alongside 
the  pier.  If  there  happened  to  be  no  pier,  we  were  tumbling 
into  the  small  boats,  any  way  to  get  ashore,  and  ready  for 
more  new  experiences. 

But  perhaps  I  had  better  begin  at  the  beginning  and  give 
you  an  account  of  where  we  went  and  some  of  the  things 
we  saw.  I  wish  I  had  the  gift  to  make  you  see  it  all  as  I 
saw  it,  but  I  know  that  is  impossible.  However,  I'll  do  the 
best  I  can. 

Leaving  Manila  the  afternoon  of  May  31  we  were  well  out 


A  CRUISE  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  ISLANDS.  205 

of  the  bay  past  Corregidor,  the  big  island  fortification,  before 
dark.  The  south  channel  was  closed  by  mines  as  a  war  pre- 
caution, so  we  threaded  our  way  carefully  through  the  nar- 
row north  channel  (the  one  Dewey  chose  when  he  concluded 
to  come  in  on  that  eventful  May  morning  several  years  ago.) 
Corregidor  is  strongly  fortified  now,  and  it  would  be  impossi- 
ble for  Dewey's  performance  to  be  duplicated,  as  a  very  close 
watch  is  kept.  When  we  were  well  past  the  island  and  out 
in  the  China  Sea,  as  dusk  settled  down,  the  search-lights  from 
the  island  were  sending  their  beams  out  over  the  waters, 
looking  things  over  carefully.  It  is  wonderful  how  a  search- 
light will  pick  up  a  ship  or  other  object  out  in  the  inky  dark- 
ness and  make  it  stand  out  so  clear.  Our  boat  carried  a  small 
search-light,  and  many  times  of  a  night  I  watched  its  work 
with  interest.  Passing  ships,  rocks,  piers,  the  shore  line,  all 
glistened  and  stood  out  of  the  darkness  quite  clearly  when- 
ever brought  within  the  beam  of  that  powerful  little  light. 

Our  first  stop  was  at  Mangarin,  on  the  southwest  shore 
of  the  island  of  Mindoro,  which  we  reached  the  next  morn- 
ing, June  1.  Our  objective  point  here  was  the  big  San  Jose 
sugar  plantation,  operated  by  American  and  Fihpino  capital, 
and  also  backed  more  or  less  by  the  Philippine  government. 
The  company  operates  a  little  railroad  from  the  landing  at 
Mangarin  out  to  the  big  sugar  mill  on  the  plantation,  about 
ten  miles  inland.  The  mill  is  a  modern  centrifugal  plant. 
The  crop  on  the  plantation  had  all  been  milled  when  we  were 
there,  but  the  mill  was  running  about  full  capacity  by  re- 
melting  low  grade  sugar  shipped  in  from  Iloilo  and  converting 
it  into  96  degree  centrifugal  sugar. 

I  watched  the  process  carefully,  but  don't  know  muck 
about  it  after  all.  The  sugar  when  melted  and  ready  for 
the  centrifugals  is  a  black,  sticky  syrup.  A  quantity  of  this 
mixture  is  run  into  the  centrifugal  vat,  a  concern  about  as 


206  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

big  around  as  a  good  sized  barrel  churn.  It  is  lined  with  a 
screen.  When  the  power  is  turned  on,  the  centrifugal  re- 
volves very  rapidly,  and  after  a  very  short  time  it  is  stopped 
and  the  sugar  is  scraped  from  the  sides  of  the  screen  and 
started  on  its  way  to  the  sacking  room.  The  syrup  and  other 
ingredients  except  the  grain  sugar,  evidently  were  whirled 
out  through  the  fine  meshes  of  the  screen  and  went  some- 
where else.     The  process  is  simple,  but  it  works  like  magic. 

This  plantation  is  a  big  affair,  the  company  having  a  grant 
of  thousands  of  acres  of  what  appears  to  be  fairly  good  cane 
land.  The  company  runs  the  mill  and  has  put  in  a  big  irri- 
gation system,  and  is  selling  the  land  to  planters  on  easy 
terms,  evidently  preferring  the  milling  business  to  that  of 
cane  growing,  as  the  development  of  a  plantation  of  that  size 
w^ould  require  miUions  of  dollars.  The  planters  seem  well 
satisfied,  apparently  the  biggest  draw^back  being  the  labor 
question. 

We  were  back  to  the  boat  again  and  off  by  3  :  30  p.  m.,  for 
Pulupandan,  Occidental  Negros,  which  we  reached  at  1  p.  m. 
the  next  day,  June  2,  landing  in  the  small  boats.  From  here 
several  autos  were  waiting  to  take  us  out  to  La  Carlota, 
several  miles  inland,  where  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture  main- 
tains an  experiment  station  and  stock  farm.  The  ride  was 
through  a  rich,  level  farming  country,  mostly  devoted  to 
growing  sugar-cane,  corn  and  cocoanuts.  The  land  has  been 
farmed  for  nearly  200  years,  but  the  soil  still  looks  dark  and 
rich  and  is  producing  good  crops.  After  several  hours  of 
inspection  of  the  experiment  station,  cattle,  horses,  and 
poultry,  the  party  got  back  to  the  boat  and  sailed  about  mid- 
night, the  ride  out  from  the  beach  being  made  in  the  small 
boats  during  a  rainstorm  that  made  the  sea  rather  rough 
and  the  getting  on  board  somewhat  exciting.  Everybody 
got  wet,  but  nobody  was  hurt. 


A  CRUISE  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  ISLANDS.  207 

We  sailed  steadily  south  that  night  and  all  the  next  day, 
Sunday,  June  3,  arriving  at  Zamboanga,  the  extreme  south- 
western point  of  the  big  island  of  Mindanao,  on  Monday 
morning,  June  4.  Zamboanga  is  a  beautiful  place,  probably 
one  of  the  prettiest  harbors  in  the  Islands.  It  is  the  island 
capital,  and  Governor  Carpenter  has  accomplished  much 
in  the  way  of  beautifying  the  place  by  establishing  beautiful 
parks  and  gardens.  We  went  by  auto  over  splendid  roads 
several  miles  out  to  the  government  penal  farm  at  San 
Ramon,  where  hundreds  of  prisoners  are  employed  on  a  model 
farm  managed  by  Superintendent  Joe  Cooley,  who  ifs  a  reg- 
ular steam  engine  for  energy  and  a  genius  for  efficiency.  This 
farm  was  a  revelation  to  most  of  the  members  of  our  party, 
who  were  acquainted  only  with  the  average  Philippine  meth- 
ods of  farming.  Cooley  has  brought  in  modern  machinery 
and  is  farming  in  a  modern  way.  He  is  developing  new  land 
all  the  time  and  setting  out  cocoanut  trees,  but  on  the  new 
land  and  in  between  the  trees  he  is  growing  corn.  It's  good 
corn,  too,  largely  because  it  is  well  cultivated.  This  year  he 
has  sold  over  $10,000  worth  of  corn  from  the  farm,  which 
shows  that  he  is  growing  things.  Also  about  $17,000  worth 
of  copra  (dried  cocoanuts).  The  institution  is  almost  self- 
supporting,  an  unusual  condition  for  a  penitentiary.  They 
grind  their  own  corn  meal,  raise  and  cure  their  own  pork,  grow 
peanuts,  fruits,  vegetables,  etc.,  and  the  place  is  kept  up  in 
ship-shape  with  beautiful  grounds.  The  superintendent's 
house,  surrounded  by  palms  and  facing  the  sea,  is  a  regular 
little  palace.  Cooley  has  a  little  Moro  boy  trained  to  do 
stunts,  and  he  put  him  through  his  paces  for  our  benefit. 
The  little  chap  was  about  ten  years  old,  and  smart.  His  little 
black  eyes  twinkled  when  he  stood  up  straight  as  a  ramrod, 
saluted,  spoke  a  piece  in  good  English,  sang  ''Old  Black  Joe," 
and  when  asked  who  he  was,  declared  quite  proudly  and 


208  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

loudly  that  he  was  a  ''Filipino  Irishman."  Returning  to 
Zamboanga,  we  had  a  fine  lunch  at  the  club,  and  left  this 
beautiful  place  with  regret  at  2 :  00  p.  m.,  bound  for  the  island 
of  Basilan,  just  across  the  channel  from  Zamboanga,  to  visit 
the  big  rubber  plantation  of  the  Basilan  Plantation  Com- 
pany. This  was  my  first  sight  of  a  rubber  plantation.  Some 
of  the  trees  of  the  Basilan  Company  are  from  five  to  seven 
years  old,  and  are  producing  rubber.  These  trees  are  tall, 
straight,  the  bark  is  rather  light  colored,  and  they  have  few 
branches.  The  trees  are  tapped  and  a  groove  is  made  down 
one  side  of  the  trunk  to  the  basfe,  where  a  little  cup  which 
holds  about  a  pint  is  placed  to  catch  the  flow.  The  sap  is 
pure  white  and  of  about  the  consistency  of  thin  cream.  The 
trees  are  tapped  every  day,  the  flow  from  the  new  wound 
being  led  into  the  main  groove,  through  which  it  slowly 
works  its  way  down  to  the  cup. 

A  collection  is  also  made  every  day,  and  the  sap  or  latex 
is  carried  to  the  central  station  or  factory,  where  it  is  given 
a  chemical  process  in  big  white  tanks,  and  is  finally  converted 
into  commercial  rubber  by  being  run  through  rollers  and 
pressed  into  long,  thin  sheets,  in  which  condition  it  is  ready 
for  market.  I  was  told  that  at  present  prices  the  trees  were 
producing  about  $5.00  worth  of  rubber  per  tree  per  annum, 
which  was  considered  quite  profitable,  and  that  the  product 
was  expected  to  increase  as  the  trees  advanced  in  age.  Labor 
is  cheap  on  this  plantation,  an  average  laborer  receiving  70 
centavos  (35  cents  gold)  per  day.  We  tramped  out  to  the 
rubber  grove  and  back  on  foot  through  the  mud,  but  the 
sights  were  well  worth  the  effort. 

We  left  that  night  for  the  Sulu  archipelago,  and  by  morn- 
ing were  sailing  along  the  north  shore  of  the  island  of  Jolo, 
headed  for  Jolo  harbor,  which  was  in  sight  in  the  distance. 
The  sea  was  a  beautiful  deep  blue,  and  so  clear  and  so  shallow 


A  CRUISE  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  ISLANDS.  209 

in  places  that  we  could  see  the  bottom,  the  queer  sea  vege- 
tation, the  coral  reefs,  and  the  many-hued  fishes.  We  passed 
a  small  Moro  fishing  boat  on  which  the  natives  had  a  shark 
about  seven  feet  long  which  they  had  captured  and  were 
cutting  up  into  steaks  for  sale,  as  we  would  beef  at  home. 
Diving  for  pearls  is  one  of  the  big  industries  on  the  shoals 
near  Jolo,  and  the  harbor  was  filled  with  small  sail-boats  of 
this  pearling  fleet  as  we  came  in.  Some  of  the  largest  and 
finest  pearls  in  the  world  are  found  near  Jolo.  We  arrived 
there  the  morning  of  June  5^  Before  we  were  alongside  the 
pier,  divers  in  small  boats  appeared  and  were  anxious  to  dive 
for  small  coins  thrown  overboard.  Two  native  women  in  a 
small  boat  seemed  anxious  to  get  into  the  game.  They  were 
both  rather  thinly  clad  and  one  of  them  was  quite  fat.  The 
temptation  was  too  great  to  resist  when  a  few  coins  landed 
near  their  boat  and  went  shimmering  off  down  through  the 
transparent  blue  water,  so  overboard  went  both  women,  and 
each  came  up  with  a  coin,  grinning  and  beckoning  the  passen- 
gers to  toss  more  coins.  These  Moros  are  expert  divers  and 
seldom  let  a  coin  get  away  from  them. 

We  went  ashore  and  were  soon  being  whisked  around  town 
in  autos,  for  although  this  is  the  land  of  the  rather  wild  Moro, 
where  most  of  the  white  men  one  meets  carries  a  gun  and 
every  chauffeur  has  a  ''sixgun'^  on  his  hip,  there  are  plenty  of 
autos  and  some  pretty  fair  roads.  Our  party  went  out  over 
the  beautiful  wooded  hills,  over  a  good  road,  clear  across  the 
island.  We  visited  a  native  market  on  the  coast,  where 
among  other  things  displayed  for  sale  were  some  of  the 
prettiest  fish  and  the  greatest  variety  of  the  same  that  I 
have  seen  anywhere  in  the  Islands. 

It  was  on  this  trip  that  one  auto  load,  consisting  of  four 
Americans,  of  which  I  was  one,  heard  of  a  big  Moro  '^ fiesta," 
or  celebration,  in  another  part  of  the  island,  and  decided  it 


210  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

would  be  worth  while  to  attend.  It  was  a  celebration  of  the 
Uberation  from  prison  of  one  of  the  "datus"  or  native  chiefs. 
We  went  in  the  auto  out  to  a  station  where  there  was  a  de- 
tachment of  Constabulary  and  there  got  horses  (little  native 
ponies)  and  made  the  rest  of  the  trip  over  slim  trails,  on 
horseback.  When  we  arrived  at  the  scene  of  the  celebration 
things  were  moving  along  fine.  It  had  been  going  on  for  a 
day  or  two.  Several  carabaos  had  been  slaughtered  and 
cooked  for  the  feast.  There  were  probably  from  300  to  400 
Moros  assembled  when  we  got  there,  all  decked  out  in  gaudy 
clothing,  a  pretty  wild  looking  bunch,  I  assure  you.  But 
we  had  Major  Livingston,  the  senior  inspector  of  Constab- 
ulary, with  us  and  were  in  no  particular  danger ;  at  least, 
nothing  serious  happened  to  us.  We  went  into  the  big  Moro 
house,  sat  down  to  the  feast  with  the  chiefs,  ate  ''chow" 
with  our  fingers  instead  of  forks,  and  were  treated  with  all 
the  ceremony  of  royalty.  When  we  left,  the  datu  who  had 
been  released  from  prison  presented  me  with  a  fine  fighting 
knife,  a  sort  of  bolo  called  a  ''barong"  with  a  silver  handle, 
the  base  of  which  was  beautifully  carved,  which  I  appreciate 
highly. 

When  we  got  back  to  Jolo  that  afternoon  I  was  surprised 
to  learn  that  the  place  we  visited  was  less  than  half  a  mile 
from  the  scene  of  the  tragedy  where  Lieutenant  Ward  and  a 
small  squad  of  Constabulary  were  killed  by  Moros  about  two 
months  previous  to  the  time  we  were  there.  We  had  heard 
all  about  the  killing  of  Ward  before  we  left  Manila,  but  had  no 
idea  we  were  getting  into  that  sort  of  a  locality  when  we  went 
to  the  feast.  Ward  and  his  httle  handful  of  men  put  up  a 
good  fight  and  sent  twenty-two  Moros  to  the  happy  hunting- 
grounds  before  they  finally  got  him.  He  was  chopped  to 
pieces  with  those  horrible  ''barongs.'' 

These  Sulu  Moros  are  pretty  tough  birds,  real  savages  and 


A  CRUISE  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  ISLANDS.  211 

religious  fanatics.  They  don't  like  American  control  very- 
well,  and  have  a  particular  antipathy  to  Filipinos.  Of  course 
the  time  is  coming  when  they  will  have  to  behave  or  go  the 
way  of  our  American  Indian,  but  you  will  remember  that  the 
Indian  was  some  time  in  going,  and  caused  a  good  deal  of 
horror  with  his  savage  cruelty  before  he  finally  left  the  scene. 
The  Moro  will  probably  do  hkewise. 

The  Moros  of  Sulu  are  largely  controlled  by  datus  or  head 
men,  and  these  in  turn  acknowledge  the  Sultan  of  Sulu,  who 
lives  at  Jolo.  He  is  not  a  very  impressive  personage  either 
physically  or  mentally,  but  he  seems  to  ''get  there"  just  the 
same.  In  the  afternoon  when  we  returned  to  Jolo  our  party 
attended  a  tea  and  reception  at  the  home  of  the  American 
Governor,  and  that  evening  attended  a  ball  and  reception 
at  the  Sultan's  palace.  Everybody  was  out  in  holiday  at- 
tire, and  it  was  quite  an  affair.  The  Sultan  didn't  have  his 
harem  on  exhibition,  which  was  some  disappointment.  He 
seemed  to  be  quite  pleased  to  entertain  the  crowd  at  his 
home,  but  took  little  interest  in  what  was  going  on.  The 
party  lasted  until  late,  and  it  was  after  midnight  before  we 
were  all  on  board  the  cutter  and  ready  to  sail. 

We  sailed  all  day  Wednesday,  June  6,  and  arrived  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Cotabato  River  on  the  southwest  side  of  Min- 
danao on  Thursday  morning,  June  7.  We  anchored  here  and 
were  met  by  Governor  Bryant  and  party  on  the  river  steamer 
General  Hall,  sl  flat-bottomed  stern-wheel  boat  almost  as 
large  as  our  cutter,  but  much  better  adapted  to  river  travel. 
We  at  once  transferred  to  this  boat,  and  were  soon  steaming 
leisurely  up  the  Cotabato  River.  The  mouth  of  this  big 
river  is  a  delta,  and  the  stream  finds  its  way  to  the  sea  through 
numerous  small  channels  that  thread  their  way  through  the 
many  small  islands,  that  are  covered  to  the  water's  edge 


212 A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

with  mangrove  thickets,  occasional  tall  trees,  and  many 
clinging,  creeping  vines. 

It  was  while  passing  through  this  delta  jungle  that  I  saw 
my  first  wild  monkeys.  There  were  eight  or  ten  of  them  in 
a  tree  close  to  the  river,  and  they  were  chattering  and  jump- 
ing around  as  Hvely  as  any  circus  monkey  you  ever  saw.  I 
have  been  in  many  places  in  the  Islands  where  monkeys  were 
said  to  abound,  but  this  was  my  first  glimpse  of  them  run- 
ning wild.  I  saw  many  others  on  this  trip.  There  were  also 
many  strange  birds  and  queer  kinds  of  vegetation,  in  fact 
the  whole  scene  was  quite  tropical  and  unusual.  Our  first 
stop  was  at  the  town  of  Cotabato,  which  is  on  the  river  just 
above  the  delta,  where  a  military  force  of  U.  S.  scouts  is 
stationed.  From  this  point  we  steamed  steadily  up  the 
river  all  day  until  near  nightfall,  when  we  reached  our 
destination,  the  Filipino  agricultural  colonies,  established 
there  in  the  heart  of  Moroland  by  the  Philippine  government. 
We  visited  the  colony  briefly,  and  made  the  return  trip  down 
the  river  quite  rapidly  after  dark.  The  Cotabato  River  runs 
through  a  great  plain,  and  the  view  from  the  deck  of  the 
steamer  was  interesting  and  constantly  changing  all  the  way. 
From  an  agricultural  standpoint  this  rich  valley,  extending 
away  for  apparently  hundreds  of  miles  to  the  mountains,  is 
practically  untouched.  There  are  scattering  fields  of  corn, 
tobacco,  hemp,  rice  and  cocoanuts  here  and  there  along  the 
river  bank,  but  the  vast  area  extending  back  to  the  mountains 
is  still  mostly  virgin  soil. 

What  of  its  future?  Who  can  tell?  As  I  rode  up  this 
great  valley  that  day  I  thought  of  what  I  heard  the  late  Col. 
Anthony  say  one  day  in  a  talk  at  Lawrence,  Kansas.  He 
said  that  in  the  year  1856  he  had  stood  on  the  hill  where  the 
Kansas  State  University  is  now  located  and  gazed  out  across 
the  unbroken  sea  of  grass  along  the  Kaw  Valley,  and  the  only 


A  CRUISE  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  ISLANDS,  213 

thought  of  its  possibilities  that  occurred  to  him  at  the  time 
was  that  it  would  make  a  pretty  good  cattle  ranch,  with  the 
ranch-house  located  on  the  hill  where  he  stood,  thus  over- 
looking the  big  range.  That  was  as  far  as  he  had  vision  at 
that  time.  The  possibilities  of  the  Kaw  Valley  as  it  is  today, 
intensively  farmed  and  dotted  with  houses,  towns,  railways 
and  cities,  did  not  occur  to  him  at  all.  And  I  looked  out 
across  the  great  Cotabato  Valley,  which  is  in  as  virgin  a  state 
as  the  Kaw  was  when  Col.  Anthony  saw  it,  and  wondered  if 
I  could  make  a  better  guess  on  its  possibilities.  I  doubt  that 
I  could  do  better.  Nobody  today  fully  realizes  the  hidden 
resources  of  that  great  island  of  Mindanao,  much  of  it  as  yet 
practically  unexplored. 

Besides  the  rich  agricultural  lands,  there  is  an  undreamed 
of  wealth  of  timber.  There  is  iron,  coal,  copper,  gold,  water- 
power,  untold  millions  of  resources  practically  untouched, 
not  only  in  the  Cotabato  country  but  all  over  the  great  ex- 
panse of  the  island,  a  country  nearly  as  large  as  the  state  of 
Kansas. 

They  say  there  are  huge  crocodiles  in  this  Cotabato  River, 
but  we  didn't  see  any  on  our  journey.  However,  at  each 
little  nipa  house  along  the  bank  of  the  river  I  noticed  that 
there  was  a  little  pen  or  half  circle  made  of  bamboo  poles 
or  small  logs,  and  was  informed  that  it  was  in  this  little  pen 
at  the  edge  of  the  river  that  the  members  of  the  family 
bathed,  secure  from  any  crocodile  that  might  happen  along. 
They  say  some  venturesome  Moro  gets  nabbed  while  pad- 
dling out  in  the  river  away  from  the  pen,  every  once  in  a 
while,  but  such  an  event  doesn't  cause  much  comment. 

Coming  back  down  the  river  that  night,  we  stopped  at 
the  home  of  Datu  Piang,  one  of  the  big  Moro  chiefs  of  the 
valley,  and  went  ashore  and  paid  him  a  visit.  He  was  a 
tough  looking  old  customer,  but  he  invited  us  into  his  home, 


214  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

served  black  coffee  and  blacker  '^Londres"  cigars,  and  seemed 
to  appreciate  our  visit.  Before  we  left  he  had  his  wives  as- 
semble, and  they  played  us  several  tunes  on  the  brass  gongs. 
It  was  a  rather  novel  show.  These  gongs  were  something 
like  inverted  brass  bowls  with  little  nobs  on  their  tops. 
They  were  hammered  with  wooden  sticks  and  give  forth  a 
clear,  ringing  sound.  There  were  seven  or  eight  of  these 
gongs  in  a  row  resting  on  a  network  of  bamboo  strips.  They 
were  graduated  in  size  to  produce  the  various  tones.  One 
woman  did  the  hammering  on  this  row.  Then  there  were 
other  larger  gongs,  two  or  three  of  them  on  which  women 
kept  up  a  constant  hammering  with  sticks  producing  much 
the  effect  of  a  snare  drum.  Besides  this,  there  were  four 
large  bass  gongs  suspended  from  poles.  These  gongs  were 
as  large  around  as  an  ordinary  wash  tub  and  gave  forth  a 
booming  sound  that  could  be  heard  for  miles.  When  the 
whole  gang  of  grinning  women  folks  got  to  pounding  away 
for  dear  life,  you  could  hardly  ''hear  yourself  think."  Even 
at  that,  the  performers  managed  somehow  to  keep  rather 
good  time  and  occasionally  almost  played  a  tune.  As  it 
takes  about  seven  or  eight  wives  to  play  one  of  these  Moro 
pianos,  I  presume  this  kind  of  music  will  not  become  popular 
back  home. 

All  day  Friday,  June  9,  was  required  in  sailing  from  Cota- 
bato  down  around  the  extreme  southern  point  of  Mindanao 
and  up  the  Gulf  of  Davao  to  the  town  of  the  same  name, 
which  we  reached  early  Saturday  morning.  Davao's  main 
industry  is  hemp,  and  the  recent  big  advance  in  the  price  of 
this  product  has  caused  a  regular  boom  there.  I  was  told 
by  one  dealer  there  that  grades  of  hemp  that  he  formerly 
sold  at  S7.00  per  picul  now  found  a  ready  market  at  $45^00, 
which  will  give  you  some  idea  of  the  advance  in  prices  and 
why  Davao  has  a  boom.     Money  is  plentiful  and  merchants 


A  CRUISE  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  ISLANDS.  215 


are  all  busy.  The  day  we  arrived  there  a  steamer  from  Ma- 
nila was  just  leaving,  and  the  pier  was  piled  high  with  goods 
for  the  local  dealers. 

I  was  told  that  there  are  fourteen  automobiles  in  the  town 
and  only  six  miles  of  auto  roads  in  the  entire  province.  They 
use  the  cars  to  "joy  ride"  around  the  town.  They  say  the 
Monobos  (the  wild  hill  tribes)  come  to  town  with  a  shirt- 
pocket  full  of  money  and  pay  six  pesos  per  hour  for  an  auto 
ride  around  town,  just  for  the  novelty  of  the  thing.  You  see 
at  present  prices  some  old  fellow  up  in  the  hills  strips  out  his 
little  patch  of  hemp  and  the  product  brings  him  possibly  30G' 
pesos,  more  money  than  he  ever  had  before  in  his  life  or  ever; 
expected  to  have,  and  he  doesn't  hardly  know  what  to  do 
with  it.  There  are  some  big  hemp  plantations  near  Davao 
that  are  owned  by  corporations.  They  are  all  making 
money.  Their  greatest  trouble  is  the  labor  problem.  Na- 
tives do  not  want  to  work  for  a  peso  or  two  a  day  on  the 
plantations  when  they  can  go  back  and  strip  hemp  on 
shares  for  small  planters  and  make  six  to  eight  pesos  per  day. 

The  soil  around  Davao  is  of  excellent  quality.  Dr.  Cox,  of 
the  Bureau  of  Science,  told  me  he  had  analyzed  soil  from 
many  places  in  the  Philippines,  and  that  the  soil  at  Davao 
was  the  nearest  perfect  for  agricultural  purposes  of  any  he 
had  tested.  There  are  many  Japanese  in  and  around  Davao, 
and  they  are  arriving  in  great  numbers.  I  was  informed  that 
over  650  Japanese  arrived  at  Davao  during  the  past  month 
of  May.  There  is  one  big  model  hemp  plantation  owned  by 
Japanese,  near  Davao,  that  our  party  visited,  besides  many 
others  in  that  locality. 

The  morning  of  Sunday,  June  10,  is  a  date  I  will  not  soon 
forget.  That  was  the  date  I  had  a  finger  pinched  while 
landing  in  a  rather  rough  sea  at  Wood's  ranch  at  Malita, 
down  the  coast  from  Davao.     As  we  were  leaving  the  launch, 


216  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

a  big  swell  caught  it  and  jammed  it  up  against  one  of  the 
posts  of  the  pier.  It  so  happened  that  one  of  my  fingers 
got  between  the  launch  and  the  piling  when  the  jam  came. 
The  finger  was  all  right  as  a  bumper  as  long  as  it  lasted, 
and  I  assure  you  it  lasted  plenty  long  enough  to  suit  me. 
The  whole  end  of  the  finger  was  crushed,  but  it  came  out 
all  right  in  time.  Mr.  Wood  has  a  model  plantation  at 
Malita.  Our  party  made  an  inspection  of  his  hacienda,  but 
I  remained  at  his  handsome  home  and  nursed  my  sore  finger. 
It  was  at  Malita  that  I  was  shown  a  cocoanut  tree  with  a 
record.  I  was  told  that  last  year  this  one  tree  produced  a 
total  of  360  nuts,  and  that  they  were  sold  at  the  local  store 
for  ten  centavos  each.  Thus  the  tree  produced  a  revenue  of 
thirty-six  pesos  in  one  year.  The  size  of  this  yield  can  be 
better  appreciated  when  it  is  known  that  trees  on  the  average 
cocoanut  plantation  bring  in  a  revenue  of  from  one  to  four 
pesos.  Many  of  the  big  planters  lease  their  trees  to  the  la- 
boring people  for  a  peso  per  tree. 

We  spent  Monday,  June  11,  out  on  the  blue  Pacific,  trav- 
eling north  along  the  east  coast  of  Mindanao.  But  one  stop 
was  made  that  day,  at  a  little  place  called  Boston,  where  the 
Governor  of  Davao  went  ashore,  prepared  to  hike  overland 
on  an  inspection  trip  back  to  Davao  over  mountain  trails, 
jungles  and  marsh.  Truly,  being  Governor  of  a  Mindanao 
province  is  no  soft  snap.  He  figured  that  it  would  take  him 
eight  days  to  get  back  to  Davao.  This  little  town  of  Boston 
has  the  distinction  of  being  at  least  one  town  in  the  Philip- 
pines where  English  is  spoken  almost  exclusively.  It  is  only 
a  small  barrio,  and  a  company  of  American  soldiers  was  sta- 
tioned there  for  some  time  during  war  times.  The  natives 
soon  picked  up  the  language,  found  it  better  suited  to  their 
needs  than  their  own  limited  vocabulary,  and  continue  to 


A  CRUISE  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  ISLANDS.  217 

speak  it  now.  Even  the  youngsters  all  speak  fairly  good 
English. 

The  morning  of  June  12  we  rounded  the  point  at  Surigao, 
the  extreme  northeastern  part  of  Mindanao,  and  went  down 
to  the  mouth  of  the  Agusan  River,  where  we  anchored,  and 
went  up  the  river  in  the  small  boats  to  the  town  of  Butuan. 
The  river  is  quite  wide,  and  the  trip  was  very  pleasant.  Our 
reception  at  this  town  was  something  out  of  the  ordinary. 
As  our  boats  advanced  up  the  river,  we  came  in  sight  of  a 
native  canoe,  a  long,  light  boat,  almost  like  a  racing  shell 
used  in  college  contests.  It  contained  eight  or  ten  natives, 
rowing  rapidly  with  their  queer,  pointed  paddles.  The  boat 
was  decorated  with  little  pennants  of  various  colors  that 
waved  in  the  breeze  as  the  canoe  moved  briskly  along.  Soon 
there  were  other  similar  canoes,  all  with  bright  pennants 
waving.  As  we  got  nearer  town,  the  river  was  fairly  filled 
with  these  small  boats,  their  occupants  laughing  and  cheer- 
ing lustily.  Then  came  a  little  steam  launch  that  added  its 
whistle  to  the  tumult,  cannons  boomed  on  shore,  and  it  finally 
dawned  on  us  that  the  reception  was  in  our  honor.  One  of 
the  native  boats  upset  and  spilled  its  eight  or  ten  occupants 
out  in  midstream,  but  it  didn't  seem  to  bother  them  a  bit. 
It  was  raining  and  they  were  all  wet  anyway,  and  they  were 
expert  swimmers  as  well  as  oarsmen. 

Butuan  is  quite  a  town,  and  the  people  treated  us  fine. 
There  was  a  big  meeting,  speeches,  a  fine  luncheon  at  the 
Governor's  home,  then  the  sports,  canoe  races,  carabao  races, 
Moro  spear  and  shield  dances,  followed  by  a  big  ball  at 
night.  They  made  the  day  a  regular  holiday.  Imagine  a 
carabao  race.  These  huge,  slow-going  animals  can  really 
run  all  right  when  they  get  in  motion.  It  was  great  sport, 
almost  as  exciting  as  an  elephant  race.  One  man  had  his 
carabao  trained  to  do  tricks,  one  of  which  was  to  kneel  down 


218  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

and  walk  around  on  its  knees.  It  was  in  this  town  that 
Dr.  Cox  secured  a  six-foot  crocodile  and  two  iguanas  for  the 
government  aquarium  at  Manila.  They  were  securely  tied, 
sent  down  to  our  cutter  and  came  through  all  right. 

At  this  place  several  members  of  the  party  purchased  the 
material  for  table  tops,  solid  pieces  of  red  narra  wood  more 
than  six  feet  in  diameter.  This  wood  takes  on  a  beautiful 
polish,  and  you  can  imagine  what  a  fine  table  one  of  these 
solid  pieces  of  wood  of  that  dimension  would  make.  It  was 
on  the  return  trip  down  the  river  that  night  that  we  wit- 
nessed one  of  the  queerest  sights  of  the  entire  trip.  It  was 
about  midnight  and  very  dark,  but  occasionally  some  tree 
along  the  shore  would  blaze  out,  first  on  one  side  of  the  tree, 
then  on  the  other,  with  a  light  that  resembled  sheet  light- 
ning. About  every  quarter  of  a  mile  there  would  be  one  of 
these  trees,  and  I  couldn't  understand  what  caused  the  light, 
until  I  was  told  that  it  was  made  by  millions  of  fireflies  on 
the  tree,  flashing  their  lights  in  unison.  All  the  flies  on  one 
side  or  the  other  apparently  lit  up  at  the  same  time,  pro- 
ducing a  regular  flash  of  light ;  then  the  other  side  would  il- 
luminate, then  it  would  come  from  the  top  of  the  tree,  a 
continuous  performance.  Many  times  over  here  I  have  seen 
trees  full  of  fireflies,  their  glistening,  twinkling  lights  making 
the  tree  look  like  it  was  full  of  sparkling  diamonds,  and  that 
by  the  way  is  a  beautiful  sight,  but  never  before  or  since 
have  I  seen  anything  like  those  flashing  trees  on  the  Agusan 
River  that  night. 

June  13  we  visited  the  big  saw  mill  at  Kalumbugan.  It 
is  a  modern  mill  with  big  band-saws  cutting  up  the  huge 
logs  into  lumber  quite  rapidly.  It  was  interesting  to  watch 
those  saws  glide  through  the  logs  slicing  off  slabs  as  easily 
as  though  the  log  were  made  of  cheese  instead  of  tough 
wood.     The  business  of  this  one  mill  runs  into  millions  every 


A  CRUISE  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  ISLANDS.  219 

year  and  lumber  is  exported  to  many  foreign  countries.  It 
has  been  in  operation  for  three  or  four  years,  but  apparently 
hasn't  made  any  impression  at  all  on  the  dense  timber  that 
covers  the  mountains  to  their  very  tops.  As  we  were  leav- 
ing this  place  we  passed  a  little  launch  coming  down  the 
coast  with  a  string  of  logs  in  tow  for  the  mill.  These  logs 
were  great  long  fellows,  more  than  six  feet  in  diameter,  of 
hard  wood,  and  so  heavy  that  they  required  bamboo  wings 
on  each  side  to  keep  them  afloat.  There  were  ten  or  twelve 
of  these  huge  logs  strung  out  in  a  line,  and  the  little  launch 
was  snorting  and  puffing  in  the  choppy  sea,  but  slowlj^  and 
surely  bringing  them  down  to  their  fate  at  the  mill.  From 
the  lumber  mill  we  sailed  back  to  Camp  Overton,  which  we 
reached  after  night,  and  tied  up  at  the  pier.  This  place  was 
at  one  time  the  scene  of  great  activity,  as  the  government 
maintained  a  military  post  here  during  the  time  of  the  cam- 
paign against  the  Lanao  Moros.  There  was  some  lively 
fighting  from  Camp  Overton  on  up  to  Camp  Kiethly  and  all 
around  Lake  Lanao.  The  Lanao  Moros  were  a  bad  lot,  and 
are  yet  for  that  matter ;  but  they  got  a  pretty  fair  taste  of 
what  Uncle  Sam  can  do  when  he  tries  and  are  not  anxious 
for  more,  at  least  not  right  now.  The  United  States  troops 
have  been  withdrawn  from  Overton  and  Keithly,  as  in  fact 
is  the  case  at  all  points  on  the  island.  Only  scouts  and  con- 
stabulary detachments  are  maintained  there  now.  As  a 
result,  these  posts  seem  rather  deserted.  Time  was  when 
there  was  action  enough  to  suit  the  most  adventurous. 

We  made  the  trip  from  Overton  up  through  Momungan  to 
Kiethly  at  Lake  Lanao  in  automobiles,  and  the  scenery  is 
beautiful,  as  fine  as  anything  in  Colorado  or  anywhere  in 
the  Rockies.  The  Agus  River  heads  at  Lake  Lanao,  and 
starts  right  out  a  wide,  roaring  torrent.  It  takes  some  ma- 
jestic tumbles  in  its  short  journey  to  the  sea,  as  turbulent 


220  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

as  the  White  River  in  Colorado.  Some  of  the  falls  are  a 
sheer  drop  of  several  hundred  feet,  and  are  majestic,  as  there 
is  a  great  volume  of  water.  Some  day  this  water-power  will 
be  used.  Lake  Lanao  is  one  of  the  prettiest  places  I  have 
seen  in  the  Islands,  high,  cool,  beautiful  scenery  on  every 
hand.  The  government  maintains  a  fine  hospital  on  one  of 
the  hills  overlooking  the  lake. 

At  Momungan  the  government  has  established  an  Ameri- 
can colony.  It  is  composed  of  American  men  who  have  mar- 
ried Filipino  women.  The  colony  started  with  nearly  a 
hundred  families  three  years  ago.  There  are  thirty-nine 
families  there  now.  It  was  a  pretty  hard  pull  for  them. 
Pioneering  is  no  picnic  anywhere.  Some  of  these  settlers 
will  make  good.  Others  have  dropped  out.  The  govern- 
ment furnished  them  transportation  to  the  colony,  gave  them 
each  a  homestead,  and  loaned  them  some  money  which  is 
being  slowly  repaid.  I  was  much  interested  in  this  colony, 
as  its  management  is  in  charge  of  the  Bureau  of  Agriculture, 
and  under  my  immediate  supervision.  There  is  a  colony 
store  and  rice  mill,  the  settlers  have  erected  homes  and  are 
opening  up  farms,  but  the  little  handful  of  people  there  are 
surrounded  by  Moros  on  every  side,  and  have  about  as  hard 
a  time  as  our  early  settlers  at  home  had  with  the  Indians. 
Those  who  stick  will  eventually  win,  because  it  is  largely  a 
survival  of  the  fittest. 

From  Overton  we  sailed  to  Cebu,  where  several  auto  trips 
were  made,  including  visits  to  the  government  Forestry  Sta- 
tion, Land  Office,  and  to  the  big  hacienda  owned  by  Speaker 
Osmena,  away  up  at  the  northern  part  of  the  island.  I  have 
written  before  of  Cebu.  From  here  we  returned  to  the  island 
of  Bohol,  stopping  at  Loay,  where  several  of  the  party  went 
ashore  and  traveled  by  auto  to  the  capital,  Tagbilaran.  It 
is  along  the  south  shore  of  this  island  that  the  beautiful  road 


A  CRUISE  OF  THE  SOUTHERN  ISLANDS.  221 

is  located  which  I  wrote  about  in  a  previous  letter.  We 
arrived  at  Iloilo  Sunday  morning,  June  17.  Here  we  visited 
the  Forestry  Station,  the  Agricultural  Station  at  La  Paz, 
the  Immunization  Station,  and  other  points  of  interest,  sail- 
ing that  night  for  Capiz,  on  the  north  shore  of  the  island  of 
Panay,  which  we  reached  the  next  day. 

Several  of  our  party  went  up  the  river  in  small  boats  to 
the  town  of  Capiz.  I  did  not  go,  as  I  had  visited  the  town 
several  times  before,  and  besides,  I  was  still  nursing  that 
sore  finger,  which  continued  to  thump  painfully,  and  I  had 
rather  lost  interest  in  landing  in  small  boats  since  my  experi- 
ence at  Malita.  That  evening  we  sailed  for  the  island  of 
Mindoro,  Which  we  reached  the  next  day,  making  stops  at 
Pola,  just  above  the  town  of  Pinamalayan,  and  at  a  small 
barrio,  where  several  members  of  our  party  made  a  trip  up  a 
river  to  Lake  Nauhan  in  the  interior  of  the  island.  I  re- 
gretted not  being  able  to  make  this  trip,  as  those  who  went 
said  it  was  very  interesting.  When  they  got  back  that 
evening  we  sailed  for  Calapan,  the  capital  of  the  province, 
which  we  reached  after  dark  in  a  driving  rainstorm.  After 
landing,  we  rode  through  the  rain  about  tv/o  miles  in  native 
carts  to  the  town,  where  we  were  given  a  reception,  dance, 
and  a  fine  dinner,  and  sailed  that  night  at  midnight  for 
Manila,  where  we  arrived  the  next  day  at  noon,  Wednesday, 
June  20. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS. 

Manila,  July  15,  1918. 

I  have  purposely  delayed  writing  this  last  letter,  because 
I  wanted  to  have  as  long  a  residence  here  as  possible  in  order 
to  become  familiar  with  certain  local  conditions  before  at- 
tempting to  form  definite  conclusions. 

American  occupation  of  the  Philippines  has  certainly  been 
of  great  benefit  to  the  Islands.  There  are  but  few  here  now 
who  would  question  this  statement.  Law  and  order  have 
been  established  throughout  the  land  and  property  rights 
are  secure.  Safety  of  life  is  assured.  There  has  been  great 
progress  in  education,  sanitation,  transportation,  a  steady 
advancement  right  along  dating  from  the  time  of  American 
occupation.  By  this  it  is  not  meant  that  all  these  things 
are  at  their  best,  that  there  is  nothing  more  to  be  desired, 
but  that  they  are  as  good  or  better  than  can  be  found  under 
average  pioneer  conditions  anywhere. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  Philippine  progress  should 
not  be  compared  with  conditions  in  the  United  States,  but 
rather  with  countries  in  the  Orient.  It  would  be  manifestly 
unfair  to  compare  Philippine  cities  v/ith  New  York  or  Chi- 
cago, or  Philippine  farms  with  those  of  Kansas,  Illinois  or 
Iowa.  Compared  with  other  Oriental  countries  I  have  seen, 
the  Philippines  stand  high.  Elections  in  certain  localities 
are  notoriously  corrupt,  but  they  have  only  been  exercising 
the  elective  franchise  for  a  few  years,  and  may  regulate  such 
matters  in  time.  Even  in  America  where  the  people  have 
been  voting  for  over  150  years,  elections  are  not  entirely  free 

(222) 


GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS.  223 

from  corrupt  practices.  Many  rich  Filipinos  spend  money 
freely  to  be  elected  to  office,  much  more  than  the  salary  of 
the  office  amounts  to  for  the  entire  term,  a  condition  that  is 
far  from  satisfactory  in  many  ways. 

There  has  been  some  unfriendly  feeling  between  Filipinos 
and  Americans  ever  since  the  first  of  our  troops  landed  here. 
This  does  not  necessarily  mean  that  Filipinos  are  not  appre- 
ciative of  what  our  government  has  done  for  them,  but  it 
must  be  remembered  that  less  than  a  score  of  years  ago  there 
was  war  here,  and  war  at  its  best  is  no  ''pink  tea."  Na- 
turally when  the  military  took  charge,  things  were  run  with 
a  rather  high  hand,  which  at  the  time  was  considered  expe- 
dient. All  the  old-timers  here  unblushingly  refer  to  that 
period  as  the  ''Days  of  the  Empire."  The  commanding 
general  was  practically  a  king.  Naturally  the  general  liked 
it.  Power  is  a  pleasant  thing — when  you  ex?ercise  it.  Not 
only  the  general,  but  the  whole  army,  liked  the  authority ; 
likewise  the  civilian  Americans  who  helped  direct  affairs  did 
not  object  to  exercising  authority.  You  have  no  doubt 
guessed  by  this  time  that  the  only  party  to  the  affair  who 
didn't  like  it  was  the  Filipino,  who  had  been  defeated  on  the 
field  of  battle  and  was  being  made  to  take  his  medicine.  At 
that  time  American  occupation  didn't  suit  him  very  well,  and 
he  did  not  appreciate  being  bossed  around.  He  wasn't  sure 
that  American  intentions  were  of  the  best.  He  wanted  in- 
dependence.    He  wants  it  yet. 

There  is  unquestionably  a  better  feeling  now  between 
Americans  and  Filipinos  than  ever  before.  This  feeling  even 
yet  is  not  as  cordial  as  it  might  be,  and  there  are  many 
reasons  for  it.  At  every  step  in  Philippine  advancement 
there  has  been  opposition.  Most  Americans  contended  that 
the  advance  was  being  made  too  rapidly,  and  a  considerable 
following  of  Filipinos  were  just  as  earnest  in  the  belief  that 


224  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

it  was  not  fast  enough,  and  as  Mr.  Dooley  says,  ''There  ye 
are/'  When  Mr.  Taft  came  over  to  establish  the  first  civil 
government,  which  of  course  loosened  the  grip  of  the  mili- 
tary, the  army  folks  didn't  like  the  idea.  They  don't  like 
it  even  yet.  They  predicted  more  or  less  disaster,  which 
history  has  proven  didn't  result.  When  an  elective  House 
of  Representatives  was  proposed,  the  same  opposition  was 
encountered.  Likewise  when  Filipinos  were  given  positions 
in  the  Commission,  or  upper  house.  Likewise,  and  more  so, 
when  Filipinos  filled  a  majority  of  the  seats  in  the  Commis- 
sion ;  and  more  yet  when  the  Jones  bill  was  finally  passed, 
and  the  Commission  was  changed  to  an  elective  Senate,  and 
a  Philippine  Cabinet  was  formed.  Following  this  was  a 
rather  rapid  Filipinization  of  the  entire  government  service 
and  wholesale  retirement  of  American  employees.  Yet 
throughout  it  all  there  has  been  advancement ;  there  has 
been  a  better  feeling  between  races  that  were  opposed ;  a 
progress  that  all  fairminded  people  are  now  willing  to  admit. 
While  on  this  particular  race  question,  I  might  state  that 
it  seems  to  be  that  there  is  less  prejudice  between  the  two 
classes  out  in  the  provinces  than  there  is  here  in  Manila. 
Here  the  army  viewpoint  is  still  in  evidence.  It  is  here  in 
Manila  that  the  average  American  comes  in  contact  mostly 
with  the  ''cochero"  (the  hack  driver),  the  ''lavandera" 
(laundress),  the  ''muchacho"  (houseboy),  which  at  best 
could  hardly  be  considered  typical  of  the  Filipino  people. 
Here  Americans  are  numerous  enough  to  meet  their  own 
social  needs,  and  are  more  or  less  clannish.  Better  class 
Filipinos  resent  this  attitude  and  are  not  anxious  to  be  re- 
buffed, so  make  no  great  efforts  toward  being  sociable.  In 
the  provinces  the  situation  is  much  the  reverse,  and  a  much 
better  feeling  obtains.  Of  course,  there  are  radicals  among 
all  classes ;  but  from  what  I  have  seen  I  am  convinced  that 


GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS.  225 

there  is  a  much  better  feeling  and  understanding  all  around 
than  ever  before;  that  Filipinos  really  appreciate  what 
America  has  done  for  them,  and  that  conditions  will  con- 
tinue to  improve  as  time  goes  on. 

The  world-war  has  certainly  demonstrated  the  loyalty  of 
the  people  of  these  Islands.  They  have  subscribed  liberally 
to  every  Liberty  Loan  drive  as  it  came  along,  never  failing 
to  go  ''over  the  top."  They  have  responded  heartily  to  ap- 
peals for  the  Red  Cross,  Belgian  relief,  ambulance,  and  other 
war  funds.  They  have  offered  a  division  of  the  Philippine 
National  Guard,  which  is  now  awaiting  the  President's  call, 
and  if  ordered  to  active  service,  I  am  sure  Uncle  Sam  will 
have  no  cause  to  feel  ashamed  of  his  brown  soldiers  from 
across  the  Pacific.  The  Legislature,  with  the  limited  re- 
sources at  its  command,  has  voted  to  assist  by  the  purchase 
of  air-  and  water-craft  to  aid  the  mother  country,  and  in 
many  other  ways  the  people  have  shown  their  loyalty  when 
America  was  in  distress.  There  may  be  a  personal  interest 
in  their  activity.  This  is  no  doubt  the  case,  for  the  world- 
war  is  a  fight  for  democracy  and  the  rights  of  small  nations, 
a  situation  in  which  the  Filipinos  see  the  dawn  of  their  na- 
tion, an  ambition  they  have  long  cherished.  But  after  all, 
when  the  sons  of  men  who  twenty  years  ago  were  firing  at 
the  old  flag,  now  enlist  under  its  folds  and  offer  to  risk  their 
heart's  blood  for  the  things  that  flag  stands  for,  it  is  a  per- 
formance that  should  not  be  treated  lightly  even  by  the  most 
thoughtless  American  who  loves  his  native  land. 

Which  brings  me  to  the  matter  of  Philippine  independence, 
which  is  a  rather  ticklish  matter,  and  I  declared  at  the  out- 
set that  I  would  not  dabble  much  in  political  affairs.  I  am  no 
deep  student.  I  have  no  pet  theories.  I  know  that  most 
Filipinos  say  they  want  independence.  Many  of  the  leaders 
know  the  risk  of  absolute  independence,  yet  declare  they 


226  A  TENDERFOOT  IN  THE  TROPICS. 

are  willing  to  take  the  chances.  I  am  convinced  that  they 
would  like  to  have  independence  and  yet  have  American 
protection,  a  condition  hardly  attainable.  So  long  as  the 
American  flag  remains  it  seems  to  me  America  must  rule. 
When  the  flag  comes  down,  America  should  go.  That^s 
merely  the  way  I  see  it.  Mr.  Taft  is  reported  to  have  said 
that  the  Filipinos  are  more  capable  of  self-government  than 
the  Cubans  were  when  the  privilege  was  extended  to  them  ; 
but  Cuba  has  had  some  rather  turbid  experiences  since  she 
started  out  alone,  and  has  had  to  have  help  more  than  once. 

My  opinion  is  that  they  will  ultimately  be  granted  inde- 
pendence; but  when  the  time  arrives,  the  governing  hand 
will  be  released  so  gradually  that  few  will  reaUze  that  it  has 
gone.  Fihpinos  are  practically  governing  themselves  now. 
The  revenues  of  the  government  for  all  purposes,  roads, 
bridges,  harbor  improvements,  schools,  courts,  officials  and 
employees,  etc.,  are  all  obtained  from  the  people  of  the 
Islands,  and  practically  have  been  for  many  years.  Amer- 
ica's expense  has  been  almost  entirely  in  the  support  of  the 
army  and  navy  and  in  building  fortifications.  As  to  the 
Japanese  menace  to  this  country,  I  cannot  see  it  the  same 
as  do  some  alarmists.  Even  if  Japan  was  as  wholly  grasping 
as  she  is  pictured,  it  is  my  opinion  that  she  would  have  her 
attention  centered  on  bigger  game,  closer  home,  a  country 
better  adapted  to  her  present  and  future  needs. 

Much  more  might  be  said  concerning  PhiHppine  affairs, 
but  it  would  be  largely  my  own  personal  views,  probably 
biased  more  or  less  by  poUtics  and  environment;  and  be- 
sides, in  all  these  letters  I  have  tried  to  keep  away  from 
topics  of  that  nature,  making  my  letters  rather  a  record  of 
personal  experiences,  in  the  hope  that  the  same  might  pos- 
sibly prove  of  some  interest.  We  are  about  to  sail  for  home 
after  more  than  four  years  among  the  hospitable  people  in 


GENERAL  OBSERVATIONS, 227 

these  pleasant  Islands.  The  time  has  passed  quickly,  and 
there  are  no  regrets.  In  fact,  the  years  spent  in  the  Philip- 
pines have  been  broadening  ones,  happy  ones,  too,  and  as 
the  time  approaches  for  our  departure,  I  admit  that  we  will 
leave  with  feeHngs  of  regret,  and  the  hope  that  we  may  some 
day  return;  that  the  view  of  the  beautiful  city  of  Manila 
as  we  sail  out  into  the  bay  will  not  be  recorded  as  a  perma- 
nent farewell ;  but  even  so,  nothing  can  efface  the  pleasant 
memory  of  the  fleeting,  happy  days  spent  in  this  balmy 
land  of  perpetual  summer.  Truly,  we  will  always  cherish 
the  kindest  memory  of  Manila  and  the  Philippines — "Where 
Nothing  Knocks  But  Opportunity. '^ 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
home  again. 

Sedgwick,  Kansas,  Nov.  1,  1918. 

Home  again!  No  one  can  realize  just  how  good  it  seems 
to  be  back  home  again  without  having  had  some  similar  ex- 
perience. We  left  Manila  on  the  Japanese  steamer  Tenyo 
Maru  on  September  2,  1918,  bound  for  Hongkong,  where  we 
were  to  connect  with  the  Canadian  Pacific  steamer  Empress 
of  Japan  for  the  long  journey  home.  This  boat  was  not  due 
to  depart  for  nearly  a  week,  so  we  had  time  to  visit  not  only 
Hongkong  but  also  the  typically  Chinese  city  of  Canton, 
ninety  miles  up  the  river.  Sailing  from  Hongkong  September 
11,  we  visited  Shanghai,  and  from  there  sailed  for  the  Jap- 
anese ports  of  Nagasaki,  Kobe,  and  Yokohama,  leaving  the 
last  named  port  September  20  for  the  long  run  of  eleven  days 
straight  across  to  Vancouver,  eleven  days  of  plowing  straight 
ahead  at  the  rate  of  350  miles  per  day  or  better,  no  land  in 
sight,  just  a  steady  pounding  of  the  engines  day  and  night 
imtil  we  landed  at  Vancouver  on  October  2. 

From  there  the  journey  was  easy,  and  we  felt  that  we 
were  almost  home.  At  Blaine,  Washington,  where  our  train 
crossed  the  boundary  Une  and  stopped  for  baggage  inspec- 
tion, the  old  Stars  and  Stripes  seemed  to  wave  us  a  joyous 
welcome.  And  all  the  way  down  through  the  prosperous 
cities  of  Tacoma,  Seattle,  and  Portland,  the  country  seemed 
fairly  singing  a  welcome  home.  The  forests  with  their 
beautiful  tints  touched  by  the  first  frosts  of  autumn  made  a 
picture  that  was  a  constant  delight,  and  I  began  to  reahze 
that  I  had  been  fairly  well  ''fed  up"  on  bamboo  and  palm 

(228) 


HOME  AGAIN.  229 


scenery,  which  served  to  make  the  change  all  the  more  ap- 
preciated. And  through  the  trip  up  the  scenic  Columbia 
River  and  on  out  across  the  mountains,  through  Pendleton, 
Pocatello,  and  Cheyenne,  on  down  to  Denver,  and  then  out 
across  the  rolling,  fertile  plains  of  my  native  state  of  Kansas, 
there  kept  running  through  my  mind  that  verse  from  ''Amer- 
ica^' : 

"My  native  country,  thee, 
Land  of  the  noble  free, 

Thy  name  I  love ; 
I  love  thy  rocks  and  rills, 
Thy  woods  and  templed  hills : 
My  heart  with  rapture  thrills. 
Like  that  above.'' 

The  man  who  wrote  that  certainly  knew  his  business,  all 
right.  At  least  he  expressed  my  sentiments  right  down  to 
the  grass  roots.  Home  again!  Truly,  you  will  never  know 
just  how  good  those  words  sound,  gentle  reader,  until  you 
have  been  to  foreign  lands  and  experience  a  home-coming. 
As  I  feel  right  now,  the  best  part  of  a  trip  abroad  is  the 
coming  back. 


BERKELEY  LIBDARTES 


CD317mbbti 


I 


WINGO  BOOKS 
3907  W  Street  N.W. 
Washington  7,  D.C. 


